This list of ‘top states for business’ in the U.S. may surprise you

The analysis is not an opinion survey, but a data-driven report that measures states on 88 metrics including workforce, infrastructure, economy, cost of doing business and several others. Each state can earn a maximum of 2,500 points across all categories and then are ranked based on total points.

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Additionally, some categories are weighted higher than others. For example, “workforce” and “infrastructure” are weighted more heavily than “access to capital” and “cost of living.”

Categories are measured in a variety of ways, the report says. Cost of living, for example, measures an index of costs for basic items, and access to capital is measured by state-backed capital and loan guarantee programs.

Here are the full rankings:

1. North Carolina

2. Washington

3. Virginia

4. Colorado

5. Texas

6. Tennessee

7. Nebraska

8. Utah

9. Minnesota

10. Georgia

11. Florida

12. Iowa

13. North Dakota

14. Indiana

15. Ohio

16. Michigan

17. Pennsylvania

18. Oregon

19. Illinois

20. Idaho

21. Kansas

22. South Dakota

23. Wisconsin

24. Massachusetts

25. Missouri

26. Kentucky

27. Maryland

28. Delaware

29. California

30. Montana

31. Vermont

32. Wyoming

33. Alabama

34. Arizona

35. New Hampshire

36. New York

37. South Carolina

38. Oklahoma

39. Connecticut

40. Nevada

41. Arkansas

42. New Jersey

43. Maine

44. West Virginia

45. Rhode Island

46. Hawaii

47. New Mexico

48. Louisiana

49. Alaska

50. Mississippi

Only one of the states in the top five (Texas) is also among the top five in total growth domestic product (GDP), according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Some of the biggest states in the country, like California, New York and Florida, are featured much lower in these business rankings.

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“Talking to CEO after CEO, workforce is the driving force for them right now,” North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper told CNBC. “They see North Carolina as a place where they can rely on our community colleges, our greatest array of public and private universities in the country to make sure they have the workforce they need.”

The report comes as the U.S. economy is dealing with surging inflation. According to June CPI data, inflation climbed to a 41-year high of 9.1% year-over-year.

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President Biden has called the high inflation reading “unacceptably high,” and Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets, said the Federal Reserve will likely have “zero patience” for such high inflation numbers, possibly signaling a benchmark interest rate increase in July or September.