The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council has released its 2011 ranking of the states according to their public policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship in the “Small Business Survival Index.”
The Index stands out as a comprehensive measure of how friendly or unfriendly states are for small business in terms of public policy decisions. The factors included in the Index – taxes, various regulatory costs, government spending and debt, property rights, health care policies, energy costs, and much more – matter to the competitiveness of each state and to the well being of small business.
The 2011 Index has been expanded to cover 44 major government-imposed or government related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. The measures are added together for an overall rating.
The top 15 states are: 1) South Dakota, 2) Nevada, 3) Texas, 4) Wyoming, 5) South Carolina, 6) Alabama, 7) Ohio, 8 Florida, 9) Colorado, 10) Virginia, 11) Washington, 12) Mississippi, 13) North Dakota, 14) Utah, and 15) Arizona.
Meanwhile, the bottom fifteen are: 37) North Carolina, 38) Maryland, 39) Hawaii, 40) Illinois, 41) Iowa, 42) Massachusetts, 43) Minnesota, 44) Connecticut, 45) Maine, 46) California, 47) Rhode Island, 48) Vermont, 49) New Jersey, 50) New York and 51) District of Columbia.
Any surprises for you? I was surprised to see North Carolina ranked low. I thought they were pretty business friendly. All comments are welcome.
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William Bruce is a business broker and appraiser. He currently serves as president of the American Business Brokers Association.
He is available nationally to assist with issues of business valuation and the transfer of ownership interests in privately held businesses.
Nice info, Will.
List appears accurate to me, I was surprised to NOT see Kansas at the bottom of the list as it is a terrible small biz state in my opinion!
Dale, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I had not heard that about Kansas, but then I’m a long way from there and have never attempted to do business in Kansas.
Not surprising that the bottom 15 states are “BLUE” states, with the possible exception of North Carolina. The citizens of those states vote FOR more regulation by the government. I’m glad that some variance between the states is still possible, since the differences provide meaningful choices to small businesses and market consequences to over-regulation by individual states.
Nathan, interesting observation. Thanks for visiting and for your imput.