CNBC: Mass. Business Climate in the Middle of the Pack
A CNBC study ranks the Massachusetts business climate as positively average, listing the state 25th among the 50 states.
The ranking is somewhat bipolar. For instance, the state came out near the bottom of the pack in cost of doing business (46), infrastructure (45), and cost of living (45).
But it ranks quite high for quality of life (7), technology and innovation (5), education (3), and access to capital (9).
Take those highs and lows together and you have a pretty average looking business climate, CNBC says.
The list is released annually by CNBC. Massachusetts saw a pretty big fall-off this year, having ranked 46th in 2013. Much of that can probably be attributed to a slide in the state’s economy; in 2013, Massachusetts boasted the third best economy, compared to 19th this year. Again, all of this is by CNBC’s standards, which are explained here.
The study ranked Georgia, Texas, and Utah as the top three states for business, in that order.
Some of Massachusetts’s New England neighbors didn’t fare so well. Connecticut was 46th, Maine 45th, and Vermont 42nd. New Hampshire ranked 30th. Rhode Island gets the Mr. Irrelevant label, as it ranked dead last.
The Rhode Island ranking meshes with another glum study for the Ocean State. That one, from online services provider Thumbtack, directly surveyed business owners and graded Rhode Island’s business climate as an F.
Massachusetts residents shouldn’t get too smug, though. The state received a D+ in that survey. That also reflected a decline over the past year, as Thumbtack gave Massachusetts a C- in 2013.
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