CNBC’S Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn Revealed America’s Top Five States for Business Today on CNBC & CNBC.com
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 10, 2012—CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, today unveiled the results of its sixth annual list of America’s Top States for Business with Texas claiming the top spot yet again from last year’s winner, Virginia.
CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn reported today live from the University of Texas at Austin and counted down the top five states throughout CNBC’s Business Day programming and on CNBC.com. Coverage of America’s Top States for Business will continue on-air and online through Thursday, July 12th.
“Texas reasserted its dominance as a business powerhouse this year,” Cohn said. “The state does face some challenges in areas such as education and health care, but its big, deep, diverse economic climate makes Texas impossible for businesses to ignore.”
CNBC.com has an in-depth look at how Texas reclaimed the top spot including a complete economic snapshot (employment, budget, tax and housing data). The rankings for all 50 states are available on the site, topstates.cnbc.com. In addition, the site also has exclusive stories and slideshows drilling down into the various top-ranking categories including Technology, Quality of Life and Most Improved States.
CNBC has also introduced an exciting new socially interactive component to America’s Top States for Business —“CNBC Top States Twitter Battle.” Designed to be a head-to-head showdown, the governors of each of the 50 states were invited to submit a video to explain why their respective state is a top state for business. These videos have been posted on CNBC.com where users can watch them and vote, via state-specific Twitter hashtags (#TopStatesNJ for New Jersey as an example) for the states they think are tops for business. The results of the “CNBC Top States Twitter Battle” will be announced during Business Day programming and on CNBC.com on July 12th. This Twitter battle, along with an interactive map featuring where the social conversation is occurring, is powered by Mass Relevance in collaboration with CNBC.
Follow us on Twitter @CNBC and take part in the social conversation surrounding CNBC’s top states coverage using hashtag #TopStates.
To determine the rankings for America’s Top States for Business, each state was scored—using publicly available data—on 51 different measures of competitiveness developed with input from business groups including The National Association of Manufacturersand The Council on Competitiveness as well as the states themselves. States received points based on their rankings in each metric, which were then separated into ten broad categories: Cost of Doing Business, Workforce, Quality of Life, Infrastructure & Transportation, Economy, Education, Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness, Access to Capital and Cost of Living.
America’s Top 5 States for Business:
1. Texas (Highest Rank - #1 in Infrastructure & Transportation; Lowest Rank - #35 in Quality of Life)
2. Utah (Highest Rank - #6 in Cost of Living; Lowest Rank - #45 in Education)
3. Virginia (Highest Rank - #3 in Business Friendliness; Lowest Rank - #33 in Infrastructure & Transportation)
4. North Carolina (Highest Rank - #3 in Workforce; Lowest Rank - #31in Economy)
5. North Dakota (Highest Rank - #2 in Economy; Lowest Rank - #47 in Technology & Innovation)
About CNBC:
With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD+, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news providing real-time data, analysis and information to more than 390 million homes worldwide. The network's 16 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m.) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC.com and CNBC Mobile Web (mobile.cnbc.com) offer real-time stock quotes, charts, analysis and on-demand video.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/cnbc/