Chief Executive Magazine conducted a survey recently and ranked each of the 50 states for its relative appeal for business.
In the 10th annual survey, over 500 CEOs responding to the survey considered a wide range of factors.
The major considerations in the overall ranking process were the quality and availability of public education and health care, the cost of living, and the quality of the existing workforce. Other than these it also included the corporate and personal tax policies of each state and the level and complexity of the government regulations concerning to creating and growing businesses.
Texas topped the list of 50 states was Texas in the same ranking it achieved in the last year’s survey. Texas was followed by Florida. New York and California at 49th and 50th were at the bottom of this year’s and last year’s lists, respectively.
Viewing from the perspectives of each state’s Gross Domestic Product, unemployment rates, state level debt, migration and state and local tax burdens, those states generally reckoned most attractive by the CEOs surveyed also reported positive assessments on most of these factors as compared to those states deemed less attractive for businesses.
Utah scored relatively well in each of three major ratings categories to obtain rank 13. In the workforce quality category, states such as Virginia, Iowa and Texas were slightly better. In the category of living environment, Florida, Hawaii and South Carolina were ahead of Utah. Utah ranked the lowest relative ranking in the taxation and regulation category.
Utah was outscored by states such as North and South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Wyoming and Florida.
