States ranked by friendliness to small business

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council has published its latest Small Business Survival Index, answering the question, “How friendly is your state to small businesses like yours?” The trade group looks at dozens of criteria and scores the 50 states and Washington, D.C., accordingly.

See where your state falls on the list this year, ranked from friendliest to least-friendly policy environments for entrepreneurship:

Small Business Survival Index 2009: State Rankings

(Ranked from the friendliest to the least-friendly policy environments for entrepreneurship)

1. South Dakota

2. Nevada

3. Texas

4. Wyoming

5. Washington

6. Florida

7. South Carolina

8. Colorado

9. Alabama

10. Virginia

11. Ohio

12. Alaska

13. Tennessee

14. Utah

15. Indiana

16. Arizona

17. North Dakota

18. Missouri

19. Mississippi

20. Georgia

21. Oklahoma

22. Kentucky

23. Michigan

24. Illinois

25. Arkansas

26. Kansas

27. Pennsylvania

28. New Mexico

29. Louisiana

30. Wisconsin

31. Montana

32. Idaho

33. New Hampshire

34. Nebraska

35. Delaware

36. West Virginia

37. Maryland

38. Oregon

39. North Carolina

40. Connecticut

41. Iowa

42. Hawaii

43. Minnesota

44. Massachusetts

45. Rhode Island

46. Maine

47. Vermont

48. New York

49. California

50. New Jersey

51. District of Columbia

When it comes to state and local property taxes affecting property owners and leaseholders, the top five states were Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Delaware, and New Mexico. The worst were Rhode Island, Wyoming, New Jersey, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Electric utility costs were lowest in Wyoming, Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia, and North Dakota, with the highest in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Hawaii.

Click here to open a PDF of the full report.