Prior to initiating the data gathering for this report, several business rankings compiled
yearly by third party magazines and business entities were consulted to help prioritize
those states that were perceived as generally “business friendly” in their policies and
those that were seen as having a more challenging business environment. These
rankings, detailed below, are comprised of a variety of factors ranging from tax policy, to
cost of living and workforce availability. While other ratings are detailed below, the
prioritization of states for further research was based on five annual ratings: Site
Selection Magazine, Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Chief Executive Magazine, Forbes
Magazine, and CNBC.