VA Loses No. 1 Spot In America’s Top States For Business Ranking: CNBC

VIRGINIA — After two consecutive years as the top state for business, Virginia slipped to third place in business and financial news network CNBC’s 2022 America’s Top States for Business rankings.

North Carolina moved into No. 1 position in the 2022 ranking, followed by Washington state at No. 2. Across the Potomac, Maryland dropped from No. 12 to No. 27 in the 2022 rankings.

In 2021, Virginia was the top-ranked business-friendly state. Virginia also won in 2019, 2011, 2009 and 2007. CNBC did not rank the states in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virginia saw its ranking drop considerably in the workforce and economy categories from 2021 to 2022, according to CNBC. The cost of living in many parts of the state has made it harder to attract and retain workers.

The strength of Virginia's public education, though, helped keep the state near the top of the rankings, with an A+ grade.

The competitiveness rankings are weighted according to the frequency states use attributes 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 Old Dominion became the first back-to-back Top State for Business in 2021 on the strength of its education system and its workforce," CNBC said in its analysis of Virginia. "But net migration to the state among college-educated workers has slowed, according to Census figures, hurting the commonwealth’s workforce ranking."

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.

Virginia accumulated 1,553 points:

• Workforce: 255 points, B+
• Infrastructure: 235 points, B+
• Cost of doing business: 193 points, B+
• Economy: 184 points, C+
• Life, health and inclusion: 204 points, C+
• Technology and innovation: 146 points, B-
• Business friendliness: 145 points, A-
• Education: 129 points, A+
• Access to capital: 41 points, A- letter grade
• Cost of living: 21 points, D+

North Carolina moved up to No. 1 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.”

Also in the top 5, behind North Carolina, Washington and Virginia, were 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.

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