North Dakota, driven by its expanding oil economy, ranked five in CNBC's sixth annual study,"America's Top States for Business.
The announcement on CNBC's "Squawk Box"is part of the TV network's day-long countdown of the top five states in its exclusive and influential study, ranking the nation's 50 states in 10 competitive categories.
The top state, as well as the complete rankings, will be revealed by the study's creator Scott Cohnon "Closing Bell"at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET.
North Dakota, which tied for 13th in 2011, knocked Colorado from the fifth spot in the 2012 rankings. The state scored high in several categories, including economy.
The fourth-ranked state will be revealed at approximately 10:50 a.m. ET onthe "Squawk on the Street"program.
How We Score
This year's rankings are based on the same 10 categoriesas years past, but the 51 criteria have been tweaked to reflect changes in the ways the states market themselves.
This year, at the suggestion of a number of state officials, we've added state credit ratings to the criteria, which are used to help score our Economy category.
All of the data in the categories — developed with the assistance of groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness — are publicly available.
