Washington state jumped into the top spot in the annual CNBC Top States for Business rankings.
Work force, infrastructure, business costs, economy, quality of life, technology and innovation, education, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living are scored by CNBC to come up with its annual ranking of America’s Top States for Business.
The rankings were announced July 11.
Washington moved up from sixth place in 2016.
“Why did we top the list? Because we’re the most talented state, the most connected state and the most innovative state in the union,” said Gov. Jay Inslee in a statement. “My top priority as governor is to continue to nurture our thriving economic climate that spurs job growth and keeps us at the top echelon for years to come. We know that a cleaner planet, happy and healthy workers and a growing economy can go hand-in-hand.”
Other states that led America’s Top States for Business list were Georgia at No. 2, Minnesota at No. 3, Texas at No. 4 and North Carolina at No. 5.
According to CNBC, the ranking is based on 10 qualities that states “deem most important in attracting business” and draws mostly from publicly available data to analyze how each state performed in those areas. There were 2,500 points possible, and Washington received 1,621. Read more about the methodology here.