CNBC’s America’s Top States For Business 2022: How Competitive Is MI

MICHIGAN — Michigan is one of the better ranking state's when it comes to business, according to the business and financial news network CNBC’s annual competitiveness ranking.

The news network ranked Michigan at 16. Even though that is a slight drop-off from last year when the news outlet placed the state at 11 in the competitiveness rankings, such as the strength of the workforce, the state of infrastructure development and the cost of doing business as selling points in their economic development materials, the state was still among the best ranked in the Midwest for 2022.

In all, CNBC measured how well the states performed across 88 metrics in 10 categories. For the first time, child-care resources and support for emerging industries such as cryptocurrency and cannabis were included in the competitiveness rankings. States can earn a total of 2,500 points.

Michigan accumulated 1,408 points:

Workforce: 215 points, 26 letter grade
Infrastructure: 212 points, 19 letter grade
Cost of doing business: 227 points, 9 letter grade
Economy: 178 points, 21 letter grade
Life, health and inclusion: 150 points, 29 letter grade
Technology and innovation: 151 points, 15 letter grade
Business friendliness: 116 points, 20 letter grade
Education: 87 points, 27 letter grade
Access to capital: 33 points, 11 letter grade
Cost of living: 39 points, 12 letter grade

North Carolina topped the ranking, moving up from No. 2 last year. CNBC noted that’s partly because “political leaders in the Tar Heel State keep managing to put partisanship aside to build the nation’s strongest economy.”

Rounding out the top five were Washington, Virginia, Colorado and Texas.

To determine how well the states performed, CNBC relied on publicly available federal data, but also commissioned reports from real estate and labor market data collection firms. State economic development and financial data from each state were also used. For more, read the full methodology.