CEOs rank best, worst states for job growth and business

For the fifth year in a row, CEOs rate Texas as the No. 1 state in which to do business and California as the worst. North Carolina maintained its No. 2 rank, while Tennessee rose two positions to the No. 3 spot. Virginia was up three slots from last year to No. 4 while Nevada notched a one spot gain to claim the No. 5 position.

Chief Executive magazine's annual "Best & Worst States" survey takes the pulse of CEOs on business conditions around the nation. For the 2010 survey, 651 CEOs from across the country evaluated the states on a broad range of issues, including proximity to markets and resources, regulation, tax policies, workforce quality, education resources, quality of living and infrastructure. The data for this year's survey were collected in January 2010.

Bill Dormandy, CEO of San Francisco-based medical device maker ITC, echoed the sentiments of numerous business leaders: "California has a good living environment but is unfavorable to business and the state taxes are not survivable. Nevada and Virginia are encouraging business to move to their states with lower tax rates and less regulatory demands."

CEOs voted California as the worst state in 2010, with New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts rounding out the bottom five. These rankings remain unchanged from 2009.

"With state coffers dry around the U.S., government-business relations are increasingly antagonistic," says Marshall Cooper, CEO of Chief Executive Group, which publishes Chief Executive magazine and is hosting a June 8 CEO2Gov Summit for business and government leaders in Washington, D.C. "In the past, CEOs viewed political risk as something to be dealt with overseas, but a flurry of regulatory and legislative initiatives at the state and federal levels make it now a home-front battle, as well."

"Texas is pro-business with reasonable regulations," one CEO remarked, "while California is anti-business with anti-business regulations." Another commented: "California is terrible. Even when we've paid their high taxes in full, they still treat every conversation as adversarial. It's the most difficult state in the nation. We have actually walked away from business rather than deal with the government in Sacramento."

2010's biggest one-year gainers were Washington (+10 spots to No. 30), Arkansas (+8 spots to No. 27), Utah (+6 positions to No. 9), Nebraska (+6 to No. 22) and Wyoming (+5 to No. 15).

Florida fell three positions to No. 6. Likewise, Georgia fell three positions to No. 7.

Texas Governor Rick Perry lauded the new poll results: "This top ranking by Chief Executive magazine proves that our low taxes, reasonable and predictable regulatory climate and skilled workforce have not gone unnoticed."

"Chief Executive's Best and Worst States survey reveals a continuing pattern where business is attracted to regions whose attitudes toward enterprise are friendly and are repulsed by areas whose attitudes are anti-growth," said J.P. Donlon, editor-in-chief of Chief Executive magazine. "In the wake of the economic crisis with states pushed to the edge with budgetary constraints, one might have supposed that the latter group would have rethought their often onerous, and ultimately job-killing, tax, regulatory and employment policies. Apart from New Jersey very recently, this has not been the case."

Best 5
   States        Rank 2010  Rank 2009
  Texas         1st         1st
  North
   Carolina     2nd         2nd
  Tennessee     3rd         5th
  Virginia      4th         7th
  Nevada        5th         6th





  Worst 5         Rank
   States         2010    Rank 2009
  California     51st     51st
  New York       50th     50th
  Michigan       49th     49th
  New Jersey     48th     48th
  Massachusetts  47th     47th





  Biggest         Positions
   Gainers        Gained
  Washington               +10
  Arkansas                  +8





  Biggest        Positions
   Losers        Lost
  Oregon                -14
  North Dakota           -7
  Connecticut            -7

For complete results, including interactive ranking features along a variety of dimensions, visit http://chiefexecutive.net/states2010.