Illinois Fails In Business Friendliness Survey: Results Here

How does Illinois fare against other states when it comes to business friendliness? There are tons of factors that go into deciding how business friendly each state is, and Thumbtack, the San Francisco-based company that specializes in matching local customers with professionals, released an interactive map describing how states rank on these factors.

Thumbtack gathered the data by surveying over 13,000 small business owners who work as electricians, music teachers, wedding planners, wellness professionals and more. According to Thumbtack, their survey is the largest continuous study of small business owners’ perceptions of government policy in the United States.

In the map, you can see data for all 50 states or 80 cities throughout the United States. They look at: ease of starting a business, ease of hiring, regulations, health and safety, employment, labor and hiring, tax code, licensing, environmental factors, zoning, training and government websites.

Illinois didn’t do so well on Thumbtack’s survey. In all, the state got six F’s. The highest rankings they got were two B-’s, each in ease of hiring and training.

Here’s how Illinois ranked:

• Overall Friendliness: F
• Ease of Starting a Business: C-
• Ease of Hiring: B-
• Regulations: F
• Health and Safety: C-
• Employment, Labor and Hiring:D
• Tax Code: F
• Licensing: F
• Environmental Factors: F
• Zoning: D
• Training: B-
• Government Websites: F

Clicking on each state or locality individually will show you their individual ranking as well as a map of who answered survey questions along with a quote. Here’s what some folks in Illinois had to say.

A photographer from Chicago said “High taxes and fees of running business in Chicago are crippling our economy.”

A caterer in Montgomery said “It’s very easy to do business where I live. There are a lot of children in my town, which positively impacts the success of my cupcake business.”

A florist in St. Charles said “Working from home, I’ve had an easier experience running my business. I have had a lot of trouble accessing credit for my business even though I have little overhead and substantial profit. If there were more local grant opportunities for women in small business, I would definitely take advantage.”

The category of “government websites,” which asks business owners if they’ve used government websites to help comply with regulations or learn information about operating a business, was added in 2017.

Illinois saw a slight decrease in overall business friendliness from 2016 to 2017, and a massive decrease since 2012, when the survey first began.

Article image via Shutterstock