21. Oregon

Residents of the Beaver State are eager to brag about their quality of life. But it is one of the priciest states to live in.

Published 4:19 PM ET Wed, 24 June 2015 Updated 2:29 PM ET Mon, 13 June 2016 CNBC.com

Category	Score	2015 Rank	2014 Rank
Workforce	197	37	39
Cost of Doing Business	186	27	33
Infrastructure	157	37	23
Economy	192	22	10
Quality of Life	244	6	13
Technology & Innovation	171	13	22
Education	77	40 (Tie)	39
Business Friendliness	68	26	26
Cost of Living	11	44	37
Access to Capital	29	22	15
Overall	1332	21	22

Economic Profile

Governor: Kate Brown, Democrat

Population: 3,970,239

GDP growth: 3.6 percent

Unemployment rate (May 2015): 5.3 percent

Top corporate tax rate: 7.6 percent

Top individual income tax rate: 9.9 percent

Gasoline tax: 49 cents/gallon

Bond rating/outlook: Aa1/stable

Major private employer: Intel Corp.

Economic profile sources: Federation of Tax Administrators, American Petroleum Institute, Moody's Investor Service, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Portland Business Journal

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