Top States for Business all-time rankings
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It was 2007. George W. Bush was president. The U.S. economy was growing, but there were growing signs that the explosive growth in the housing market (and perhaps all growth over the last five or six years) was a giant bubble.
As gains became increasingly elusive, governments began to act even more aggressively to attract new businesses and retain existing businesses. Some states always seemed to fare better than others, and CNBC set out to find out why. America’s Best States for Business was born.
For 20 years, governors in the Best States launched Even though CNBC rankings are political rivals they also used them to try to defeat the ruling party. Companies like Amazon have said they use rankings when making high-stakes location decisions, like the nationwide HQ 2 sweepstakes in 2018.
Today, with the benefit of a lot of hindsight, some patterns have become clear.
A few states, such as Virginia, Texas, and North Carolina, were extremely consistent; they rarely fell outside the top 10. Others, such as Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and West Virginia, were consistent in the other direction; sometimes for reasons beyond their control, sometimes because they can’t get out of their own way.
However, there have been some important moves in the last 20 years.
Consider Michigan. The US auto industry was on the verge of the worst crisis in its history in 2007; GM and Chrysler were months away from going bankrupt. Wolverine State finished 41st overall that year; It ranked 46th in the economy category. Today it ranks 6th overall and is experiencing the greatest 20-year development of any state, thanks to low costs, great infrastructure, and good access to capital.
Or in Ohio. America’s Best Business State in 2026 lost 250,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2007, finishing 2007 ranked 30th overall. The state ranked 33rd in the Cost of Doing Business in 2007. Today it is number 1.
On the other hand, South Dakota, which finished 18th in our first year and was promoted to Best State in 2013, ranked 44th in 2026, including 45th in Economy, which was 24th in 2007, and 33rd in Quality of Life this year, after ranking 18th in our first year.
Or Idaho, the 6th state with the lowest Cost of Doing Business in 2007. This year, it fell to 30th place in general classification and 28th place in operating costs.
