Here’s How Good Virginia Is For Business

How good is Virginia for business? According to a new study from CNBC published Tuesday, the state is among the bottom half of all 50 states for business. The state ranked 4th on CNBC’s 2018 list of the top states for business, up three notches from last year's No. 4 rank. And the Commonwealth placed much higher than neighboring Maryland at 31st.

"Not only does (Virginia) have the educated, available workforce that employers demand, it also has become a leader in business friendliness with the passage earlier this year of a bipartisan regulatory reform bill aimed at reducing regulations by 25 percent in the next three years," CNBC says.

The study scores all 50 states on 64 metrics across 10 categories, CNBC explains in its methodology.

“Our study is not an opinion survey; we measure actual performance by the states,” the network said of its methodology. CNBC says the study grades each state based on the qualities they tout as good for attracting business. Each category is given a weight based on how much the states cite it as a factor for attracting business; the more a category is cited, the higher the weight, CNBC says. (You can read more about the methodology and the sources used in the study here.)

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Here are the points Virginia received for every category (the categories are presented from highest to lowest importance):

Workforce: 304/425
Infrastructure: 207/400
Cost of doing business: 161/350
Economy: 208/300
Quality of life: 190/300
Technology and Innovation: 141/225
Education: 147/200
Business Friendliness: 116/150
Access to Capital: 77/100
Cost of Living: 18/50

Virginia received no "F" grades and only one "D" for its high cost of living. On the flip side it earned "A" grades for workforce and education.

Texas claimed the top spot as the best state for business in 2018. The state also bagged the top spots in five of the 10 categories states were graded for. CNBC notes that the state has never finished outside the top five since the rankings were first published.

“The state prides itself on business-friendly regulations, smart spending and low taxes,” CNBC writes. “Texas levies no individual income tax and no corporate tax.”

Washington, the No.1 state in 2017 slipped to No. 2 this year. CNBC said the state had the fastest growing economy in 2017 but weaknesses like high costs and poor infrastructure make it “no match for a resurgent Texas.” Utah, the No. 3 state, has a thriving technology industry and saw the highest job increase in the nation in 2017, according to CNBC.

Below are the states that rounded out the top 10:

Texas
Washington
Utah
Virginia
Colorado
Minnesota
Georgia
Massachusetts
North Carolina
Florida

Read the full CNBC report on the topic here.

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