Forbes Magazine’s “Best States for Business” 2017 list ranked Virginia as the fifth-best state for business -- up one notch from last year.
In Forbes Magazine’s annual “Best States for Business” ranking list published this week, Virginia cracked the top five of the best states for business. This year’s list saw the Commonwealth move up one notch from last year and two from 2015. Before that, Virginia ranked fourth on the list in 2014 and first in 2013, having ranked in the top two on the list every year since 2006. The state’s business-friendly government policies and generous incentives have maintained a regulatory climate, keeping it near the top of the list for more than a decade. Forbes Magazine comes up with its list by assessing each state in six different categories, including the economic climate, regulatory environment (government polices and incentives), labor supply, business costs, growth prospects, and quality of life. Forbes attributes Virginia’s drop from the number-one ranking in 2013 to a declining economic climate and higher business costs, yet it has still maintained the second-best regulatory climate.
Virginia’s diverse economy was identified by the magazine as one of its strengths, and the state’s economy is helped by a broad spectrum which includes dense federal and local government, farming, manufacturing, and military industries. The Commonwealth’s regulatory environment ranked the highest of the six categories assessed in the study, with the second-best ranking of all the states on the list. Virginia's second-best category ranking was a third-best ranked labor supply. Virginia also had the eighth-best ranking in the quality of life category, and the 14th best growth prospects ranking. It fell lower in business costs (No. 29) and economic climate category (No. 33).
North Carolina was named 2017’s best state for business by Forbes, and Texas landed at No. 2. Virginia’s neighboring states ranked lower on the list, with Tennessee at No. 15, Maryland at No. 26, Kentucky at No. 35, and West Virginia at No. 50. D.C. was not included in the magazine’s ranking list.
