Every year, Chief Executive Magazine conducts a survey of Chief Executive Officers to obtain their perception of the business friendliness of the 50 states. The details are here. The top five states in 2024 were Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona and North Carolina. The second five includes Indiana, Georgia, Nevada, Utah and South Carolina.
The least business friendly states were California (#50), New York (#49), Illinois (#48), New Jersey (#47) and Washington (#46). The bottom 10 is rounded out with Massachusetts (#45), Hawaii (#44), Oregon (#43), Connecticut (#42) and Minnesota (#41).
The magazine describes the Survey as follows: “The ranking is based on a survey of more than 500 CEOs across the country who were asked to rate states based on their opinion of how easy it was to do business in that state versus others.”
The magazine added: "Texas and Florida's consistent ranking at the top of lists for best states to do business in reaffirms their status as economic powerhouses," said Chris Chalk, Publisher, Chief Executive magazine. "Their pro-business environments, robust infrastructure, and skilled workforce continue to attract businesses and drive economic growth. These states serve as prime examples of how strategic policies and investments can create opportunities for success."
I checked with ChatGPT to get a resume of recent year surveys. In each of the last ten years, Texas has ranked #1 and Florida #2. But the bottom end of the rankings has been more stable (with no change in the bottom 3), with California taking last place over the last decade, New York taking 49th place and Illinois placing 48th.
Wendell Cox is principal of Demographia, an international public policy firm located in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University in Orange, California. He has served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. His principal interests are economics, poverty alleviation, demographics, urban policy and transport. He is co-author of the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey and author of Demographia World Urban Areas.
Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him to three terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (1977-1985) and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appointed him to the Amtrak Reform Council, to complete the unexpired term of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (1999-2002). He is author of War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life and Toward More Prosperous Cities: A Framing Essay on Urban Areas, Transport, Planning and the Dimensions of Sustainability.
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