Best States for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) ranked the 50 states and *DC according to some of the major government imposed or related costs affecting investment, entrepreneurship, and business. The Small Business Survival Index ranks the states according to their public policy climates for entrepreneurship.Ranked from the Friendliest to the Least Friendly Policy Environments for Entrepreneurship

Rank State
1 South Dakota
2 Nevada
3 Wyoming
4 Florida
5 Washington
6 Texas
7 South Carolina
8 Alabama
9 Virginia
10 Colorado
11 Tennessee
12 Georgia
13 Arizona
14 Missouri
15 Utah
16 Alaska
17 Mississippi
18 Ohio
19 Michigan
20 Indiana
21 Oklahoma
22 North Dakota
23 Kentucky
24 Illinois
25 Pennsylvania
26 Wisconsin
27 Louisiana
28 New Hampshire
29 New Mexico
30 Arkansas
31 Kansas
32 Oregon
33 Montana
34 Delaware
35 Idaho
36 Nebraska
37 Connecticut
38 Maryland
39 North Carolina
40 West Virginia
41 Hawaii
42 Iowa
43 Vermont
44 Massachusetts
45 New York
46 Minnesota
47 Rhode Island
48 Maine
49 California
50 New Jersey
51 Dist. of Columbia

* (Please note that the District of Columbia was not included in the studies on the states’ liability systems, eminent domain legislation and highway cost efficiency, so D.C.’s last place score actually should be even worse.)

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