2011 Top States For Doing Business: Full Results & Methodology

Area Development Homepage >> Site Selection/Facility Planning >>

For the second year in a row, Area Development magazine has conducted a survey of a select group of highly respected location consultants who work with a nationwide client base.

Area Development Magazine Special Presentation (Fall 2011)

We asked the consultants to name their top-5 state choices in 12 site selection categories, as follows:

Business environment
1. Overall cost of doing business
2. Incentives programs
3. Business friendliness
4. Corporate tax environment

Labor climate
1. Labor availability
2. Labor costs
3. Work force development programs

Infrastructure/global access
1. Rail & highway accessibility
2. Certified sites & shovel-ready programs
3. Competitive utility rates
4. Access to global markets

Economy
1. Leading in the economic recovery

Top States for Doing Business 2011 »

A Closer Look at the
Top Overall States »

Leading Site Consultants Analysis »

States were ranked in each of the 12 categories above based on the number of times they were named as a “top-5” choice by the responding consultants. Next, a top-5 state’s ranking in each of the 12 categories was assigned a weight in accordance with its position in these individual categories. Based on these total weighted scores, Texas is far and away the consultants’ #1 choice for doing business, followed by Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina (with weighted scores only a point apart), and finally Indiana in the #5 spot. Taking the #6–#10 rankings based on weighted scores are Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and — surprisingly — California, in that order.

The top-5 states based on weighted scores were each mentioned in at least 8 of 12 categories. Three other states — Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina — were mentioned among the top-5 states in 6 of 12 categories, and Tennessee was mentioned in 4 of 12. Several other states made the top-5 listings in the 12 individual categories (there were numerous ties), but were mentioned in fewer categories overall. Nonetheless, these states also are considered among 2011’s top states for doing business according to the consultants responding to our survey.

Full Results:

- 1.
- TEXAS
- 38pts
- 2.
- GEORGIA
- 28
- 3.
- ALABAMA
- 27
- 4.
- SOUTH CAROLINA
- 26
- 5.
- INDIANA
- 20
- 6.
- LOUISIANA
- 17
- 7.
- NORTH CAROLINA
- 15
- 8.
- TENNESSEE
- 13
- 9.
- MISSISSIPPI
- 12
- 10.
- CALIFORNIA
- 6

- 1.
- ALABAMA
  GEORGIA
- 10/12
- 2.
- TEXAS
- 9/12
- 3.
- INDIANA
  SOUTH CAROLINA
- 8/12
- 4.
- LOUISIANA
  MISSISSIPPI
  NORTH CAROLINA
- 6/12
- 5.
- TENNESSEE
- 4/12

- 1.
- TEXAS
- 2.
- INDIANA
- 3.
- LOUISIANA
  VIRGINIA
- 4.
- ALABAMA
  GEORGIA
  NORTH DAKOTA
  TENNESSEE
  UTAH
- 5.
- NORTH CAROLINA

- 1.
- TEXAS
- 2.
- SOUTH
  CAROLINA
- 3.
- ALABAMA
- 4.
- LOUISIANA
- 5.
- INDIANA

- 1.
- Texas
- 2.
- Alabama
  South Carolina
- 3.
- Indiana
  Louisiana
- 4.
- Georgia
  North Carolina
- 5.
- Mississippi

- 1.
- Alabama
  Louisiana
  Texas
- 2.
- South Carolina
- 3.
- Georgia
- 4.
- Oklahoma
- 5.
- Indiana
  Mississippi

- 1.
- Texas
- 2.
- South Carolina
- 3.
- Nevada
- 4.
- Alabama
  Florida
  Indiana
  Mississippi
- 5.
- Georgia

- 1.
- Texas
- 2.
- South Carolina
- 3.
- Louisiana
- 4.
- Alabama
  Mississippi
- 5.
- Indiana

- 1.
- TENNESSEE
- 2.
- GEORGIA
- 3.
- INDIANA
  TEXAS
- 4.
- NORTH CAROLINA
- 5.
- SOUTH CAROLINA

- 1.
- North Carolina
  Tennessee
- 2.
- South Carolina
- 3.
- Georgia
  Indiana
  Texas
- 4.
- Oklahoma
- 5.
- Alabama
  Ohio

- 1.
- California
- 2.
- New York
- 3.
- Florida
  Texas
- 4.
- Georgia
  New Jersey
- 5.
- Virginia

- 1.
- Kentucky
- 2.
- Tennessee
- 3.
- Georgia
- 4.
- Alabama
  South Carolina
- 5.
- Indiana
  Mississippi
  Washington

- 1.
- Indiana
- 2.
- Illinois
- 3.
- Texas
- 4.
- Georgia
  Missouri
  North Carolina
  Pennsylvania
  Tennessee
- 5.
- Virginia

- 1.
- GEORGIA
- 2.
- ALABAMA
- 3.
- MISSISSIPPI
  NORTH CAROLINA
- 4.
- SOUTH CAROLINA
  TEXAS
- 5.
- LOUISIANA
  MICHIGAN

- 1.
- Georgia
- 2.
- Texas
- 3.
- Michigan
- 4.
- North Carolina
  Ohio
- 5.
- Alabama
  California

- 1.
- Mississippi
- 2.
- Alabama
- 3.
- South Carolina
- 4.
- Arkansas
- 5.
- Louisiana

- 1.
- Georgia
- 2.
- Alabama
- 3.
- North Carolina
- 4.
- Louisiana
- 5.
- South Carolina

Save/Share Article

RELATED TOPICS AND ARTICLES

Site Selection/Facility Planning

Finding a Strategic Location for Shared Services Operations

Trendspotting: Corporate HQ Location Choices in a Recovering Market

ASK AREA DEVELOPMENT

Have questions, comments or concerns about this article? Submit to Ask Area Development here and the author or an expert from our network of site selection and facility planning professionals will answer:

Privacy policy / GuidelinesArea Development will select a number of questions to answer each week. An Area Development representative will contact the submitting reader directly with feedback. Additionally, all submissions are eligible to appear online or in our print publication. If your question is selected for publication we will include and publish your first name, job title and industry only. The full identity of the submitting reader will not appear in published format.Area Development will not publish, share with any third parties, or use for marketing purposes any personal information submitted here without the express consent of the submitting reader.