Assurance Group, Inc. - The Best States For Business

(877) 764-3678
Compelling Value Consulting

How the states match up.

Our Best States ranking measures six vital categories for businesses: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. We factor in 33 different points of data to determine the ranks in the six main areas. Business costs that include labor, energy and taxes are weighted the most heavily. We relied on nine different data providers. Moody's Economy.com is the most utilized resource.

We relied on nine different data providers. Moody's Economy.com is the most utilized resource.

Overall rank	2008 rank	State	Business Costs Rank	Labor Rank	Regulatory Environment Rank	Economic Climate Rank	Growth Prospects Rank	Quality of Life Rank	Population	Gross State Product ($bil)	Five-Year Change (%)	Governor
1	1	Virginia	20	3	2	18	12	1	7,804,600	325	2.9	Tim Kaine
2	3	Washington	27	2	5	3	1	24	6,593,900	265	3.3	Chris Gregoire
3	2	Utah	14	4	11	11	22	17	2,756,900	88	4.6	Gary Herbert
4	6	Colorado	33	1	17	5	2	15	4,975,800	203	2.8	Bill Ritter
5	4	North Carolina	3	15	4	16	33	34	9,305,500	329	2.8	Beverly Perdue
6	5	Georgia	28	7	1	23	15	33	9,765,700	329	1.9	Sonny Perdue
7	13	North Dakota	6	37	26	8	4	21	643,200	24	4.1	John Hoeven
8	9	Texas	29	23	10	1	3	39	24,553,400	926	3.7	Rick Perry
9	10	Nebraska	11	24	23	23	23	10	1,788,800	67	2.1	David Heineman
10	16	Oregon	17	6	41	13	17	25	3,820,400	147	4.5	Ted Kulongoski
11	7	Idaho	12	17	35	10	36	18	1,534,900	46	4.5	C.L. Otter
12	14	Maryland	42	8	29	18	7	14	5,642,600	221	2.2	Martin O'Malley
13	24	Montana	23	8	38	6	16	35	972,500	27	3.2	Brian Schweitzer
14	22	Iowa	9	39	16	22	46	8	3,009,100	110	3.0	Chet Culver
15	21	Kansas	25	21	12	30	26	27	2,814,600	98	2.5	Mark Parkinson
16	23	South Dakota	1	33	41	21	21	23	807,100	30	3.4	Mike Rounds
17	11	Minnesota	32	10	30	35	20	6	5,242,700	217	2.0	Tim Pawlenty
18	8	Florida	36	11	25	14	9	40	18,388,700	603	3.0	Charlie Crist
19	20	New Hampshire	41	5	46	26	5	4	1,320,400	51	2.0	John Lynch
20	26	Oklahoma	13	41	9	4	47	38	3,647,900	107	2.5	Brad Henry
21	12	Delaware	5	12	26	40	39	36	878,500	49	1.9	Jack Markell
22	31	Wyoming	2	29	48	15	26	32	536,000	22	2.9	Dave Freudenthal
23	17	Tennessee	10	39	3	38	34	42	6,244,600	210	2.2	Phil Bredesen
24	35	Illinois	34	27	13	32	28	20	12,942,500	516	1.5	Pat Quinn
25	29	South Carolina	19	31	6	36	30	43	4,507,200	127	1.2	Mark Sanford
26	32	Arkansas	8	44	34	17	14	41	2,866,700	79	2.3	Mike Beebe
27	15	New Mexico	26	32	31	11	6	48	1,992,100	61	2.7	Bill Richardson
28	28	Alabama	22	42	19	25	13	45	4,679,700	137	2.4	Robert Riley
29	30	Missouri	15	38	21	42	25	29	5,924,000	194	1.1	Jay Nixon
30	25	Indiana	7	43	14	47	49	16	6,399,200	210	0.6	Mitchell Daniels
31	19	Nevada	24	26	28	2	40	49	2,615,100	103	4.8	Jim Gibbons
32	38	New York	46	30	17	18	35	13	19,506,400	965	3.6	David Paterson
33	41	Pennsylvania	38	34	15	37	32	7	12,466,600	444	1.5	Edward Rendell
34	36	Massachusetts	48	16	22	33	40	2	6,506,600	312	2.2	Deval Patrick
35	33	Connecticut	45	18	33	31	37	3	3,504,700	178	2.2	M. Jodi Rell
36	18	Arizona	31	14	45	7	38	47	6,562,700	210	3.8	Jan Brewer
37	39	Ohio	30	47	8	43	48	12	11,491,200	386	0.4	Ted Strickland
38	40	California	50	22	39	27	10	26	36,962,400	1,546	2.9	Arnold Schwarzenegger
39	27	Hawaii	47	19	43	9	31	28	1,292,700	50	3.2	Linda Lingle
40	42	Mississippi	18	49	20	46	19	46	2,946,000	72	1.5	Haley Barbour
41	46	Maine	44	25	32	39	28	19	1,315,600	40	1.6	John Baldacci
42	48	Alaska	37	28	40	29	11	44	690,000	30	1.8	Sean Parnell
43	44	Kentucky	16	45	24	45	44	31	4,290,400	127	1.6	Steven Beshear
44	49	Louisiana	20	50	36	34	8	50	4,418,500	145	1.9	Bobby Jindal
45	34	New Jersey	49	20	47	44	24	5	8,699,200	390	1.3	Jon Corzine
46	50	West Virginia	4	48	49	28	43	37	1,815,700	46	1.7	Joe Manchin III
47	36	Vermont	43	13	44	49	42	9	621,300	22	2.1	Jim Douglas
48	43	Wisconsin	35	36	37	41	45	11	5,638,700	198	1.5	Jim Doyle
49	47	Michigan	39	46	6	50	50	30	9,978,900	326	-0.9	Jennifer Granholm
50	45	Rhode Island	40	35	50	48	18	21	1,050,600	38	0.9	Don Carcieri

Sources: Moody's Economy.com, Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Pacific Research Institute, Tax Foundation, Sperling's Best Places, Census Bureau, SBA, FBI, Dept. of Education, Forbes.

Compelling Value Consulting

How the states match up.