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North Carolina surges to No. 4 in CNBC’s ‘Top States for Business’

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RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina vaulted to No. 4 from No. 9 in CNBC’s fourth “America’s Top States for Business” survey.

The cable news network ranks states in 10 different categories.

North Carolina has made the top 10 in each of the four surveys and finished with 1,381 points out of a possible 2,500.

Texas finished first followed by Virginia and Colorado.

Filling out the top 10 were: Massachusetts 5th; Iowa 6th; South Dakota 7th; Minnesota and Utah tied for 8th.

Georgia finished 10th.

South Carolina ranked 31st.

North Carolina ranked highest (3rd) in workforce. Other top 10 rankings included transportation (10) and access to capital (10).

Based on CNBC’s data, North Carolina showed most improvement over 2009 in access to capital (rising to 10th from 36th), economy (37th from 42nd) and technology and innovation (11th from 13th),

The state earned its lowest ranking in economy (37).

Other categories:

• Cost of business: 15

• Quality of life: 32

• Technology and innovation: 11

• Education: 26

• Business friendliness: 13

• Cost of living: 23

“This shows that the hard work of the past year has paid off – our investments in education to build the workforce of tomorrow, policies that create a more business-friendly climate and our aggressive recruiting,” said Gov. Bev Perdue in a statement. “When I took office, I pledged to take any meeting and make any call to bring jobs to this state. There’s nothing I love more than convincing a corporate executive of what a great place this is to live and work.”

The categories for the measurement and weightings, were:

• Cost of Doing Business (450 points)
• Workforce (350 points)
• Quality of Life (350 points)
• Economy (314 points)
• Transportation & Infrastructure (300 points)
• Technology & Innovation (250 points)
• Education (175 points)
• Business Friendliness (175 points)
• Access to Capital (50 points)
• Cost of Living (25 points)
North Carolina ranked fifth in 2007 and sixth in 2008.

Georgia ranked 20th in cost of business; 3rd in workforce; 35th in quality of life; 37th in economy; 2nd in transportation; 17th in technology and innovation; 28th in education; 17th in business friendliness; 13th in access to capital and 9th in cost of living.

South Carolina ranked 6th in cost of business; 5th in workforce; 45th in quality of life; 46th in economy; 8th in transportation; 26th in technology and innovation; 43rd in education; 30th in business friendliness; 34th in access to capital; and 24th in cost of living.

North Carolina ranked fifth in 2007 and sixth in 2008.

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