Study: North Carolina rises to No. 16 in state innovation rankings

RALEIGH – North Carolina is rising in the ranks of innovation, a new study from financial news site WalletHub.

The state rose three spots to 16th from previous WalletHub studies in 2022 and 2021. There were no rankings in 2020.

Despite the improvement North Carolina fell short of its No. 9 ranking for population.

Based on a wide variety of statistical merits, NC scored 45.82 points and ranked 17th for innovation environment and 20th for human capital.

North Carolina’s best ranking came at No. 1 for adoption of K-12 computer science standards and tax friendliness (10th). It ranked worst at No. 42 for scientific knowledge output.

The state ranked just below Texas and slightly ahead of Florida.

Top scores went to the District of Columbia (77.12) and Massachusetts (75.48).

Reasons why

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez traced North Carolina’s improved ranking to taxes and recently passed laws.

“North Carolina attracts innovation through its tax climate, which is very friendly toward businesses. The state also encourages tech-enabled innovation through newer laws regarding self-driving vehicles [passed in 2021] and adopting K-12 computer science standards,” Gonzalez explained.

“To rank even higher, North Carolina could increase its output of peer-reviewed academic science and engineering articles, and even fundamentally start with improving eighth grade math and science performance.”

The study’s findings are based on WalletHub describes as “22 key indicators of innovation-friendliness. Our data set ranges from share of STEM professionals to R&D spending per capita to tech-company density.”