America's Top States for Business 2017

A scorecard on state economic climate

We score all 50 states on more than 60 measures of competitiveness, developed with input from a broad and diverse array of business and policy experts, official government sources, the CNBC Global CFO Council, YPO and the states themselves. States receive points based on their rankings in each metric. Then we separate those metrics into 10 broad categories, weighted based on how frequently each is used as a selling point in state economic development marketing materials. That way, our study ranks the states based on the criteria they use to sell themselves. This year some states were tied. Learn more about our categories and methodology.

Full 2017 Top States coverage

VIEW RANKINGS: Data Table | Chart | Maps

State
OVERALL
Workforce
Infra-structure
Cost of Doing Business
Economy
Quality of Life
Technology and Innovation
Education
Business Friendliness
Access to Capital
Cost of Living
Washington 1 5 32 32 3 5 3 19 31 8 37
Georgia 2 3 4 26 1 28 23 33 19 9 14
Minnesota 3 16 10 36 6 3 5 2 33 16 31
Texas 4 1 1 15 25 37 11 34 24 3 9
North Carolina 5 7 20 9 15 28 6 32 8 9 19
Colorado 6 4 28 38 13 14 7 12 8 12 32
Virginia 7 2 25 35 20 17 16 13 7 13 28
Utah 8 18 9 24 4 20 18 34 16 18 17
Tennessee 9 19 2 6 5 42 30 37 4 23 7
Massachusetts 10 6 41 45 14 10 1 1 20 7 47
Michigan 11 13 19 24 9 33 9 23 25 17 3
Florida 12 22 7 30 2 24 28 40 17 4 27
Nebraska 13 20 26 13 27 10 33 5 6 41 13
Indiana 14 35 3 2 10 45 26 29 8 24 2
Iowa 15 42 23 10 21 9 25 9 11 30 15
Ohio 16 31 5 22 17 40 15 15 37 14 18
Oregon 17 30 20 28 10 12 14 27 41 22 39
New Hampshire 18 14 49 39 22 6 21 8 1 32 30
North Dakota 19 12 17 29 40 4 39 13 4 47 26
Idaho 20 33 32 11 8 18 36 44 3 41 6
Wisconsin 21 28 26 22 28 24 17 15 27 25 24
Missouri 22 43 11 17 18 46 22 15 23 20 11
Pennsylvania 23 21 38 34 34 30 10 10 28 5 34
South Dakota 24 39 37 14 22 14 41 25 2 34 34
Maryland 25 11 43 48 7 26 4 25 33 15 44
Arizona 26 7 14 37 19 31 24 49 14 18 25
Wyoming 27 17 14 26 43 16 40 11 13 50 15
California 28 10 22 49 22 21 2 28 50 1 48
South Carolina 29 23 30 16 15 36 35 40 29 28 29
Montana 30 44 30 11 35 8 37 22 26 35 30
Illinois 31 24 24 30 45 27 12 24 47 5 21
New Jersey 32 26 46 45 31 13 18 4 42 9 41
Connecticut 33 7 47 43 41 23 13 3 32 20 45
Kansas 34 33 12 21 46 35 31 18 15 36 8
Kentucky 35 47 6 3 29 41 38 30 44 27 10
Vermont 35 45 29 41 37 2 29 7 30 46 43
Alabama 37 36 18 7 26 50 31 47 33 29 12
New York 38 39 45 47 33 19 8 5 45 2 49
Nevada 39 41 8 18 10 34 50 50 18 26 36
Delaware 40 15 36 40 39 37 18 36 22 38 33
Arkansas 41 37 12 7 32 47 48 38 39 32 4
New Mexico 42 32 16 19 44 42 27 45 45 38 22
Oklahoma 43 38 32 20 42 48 44 43 12 36 5
Louisiana 44 28 39 4 49 49 47 48 40 31 20
Rhode Island 45 27 50 43 29 31 34 20 37 44 42
Maine 46 50 48 32 38 7 41 20 36 40 38
Alaska 47 25 35 42 48 22 41 42 20 49 46
Mississippi 48 46 41 1 47 44 46 46 43 44 1
Hawaii 49 48 40 50 35 1 45 30 47 41 50
West Virginia 50 49 44 4 50 39 49 39 49 47 22

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