Illinois drops 11 spots in CNBC’s Top States for Business 2013 index
by Ben VanMetre CNBC released this week its Top States for Business 2013 index. Illinois dropped 11 notches overall, to 37th from 26th, in just one year. The study scores all 50 states on 51 measures of competitiveness, and the metrics are boiled down to 10 broad categories. Each category is weighted differently. Unfortunately, Illinois ranks...
by Ben VanMetre
CNBC released this week its Top States for Business 2013 index. Illinois dropped 11 notches overall, to 37th from 26th, in just one year.
The study scores all 50 states on 51 measures of competitiveness, and the metrics are boiled down to 10 broad categories. Each category is weighted differently. Unfortunately, Illinois ranks the worst in some of the highest-valued categories, such as the cost of doing business and the economy. Some of Illinois’ better scores, with the exception of infrastructure, are in categories that aren’t as heavily weighted, such as education, and technology and innovation.
These findings confirm the fact that poor policy decisions continue to sap economic activity and ruin opportunities for businesses operating in Illinois.
Illinois already can’t pay its bills; it also has the worst-funded pension liability in the nation and the nation’s lowest credit rating. The last thing it needs is an unfriendly business environment.
Here’s how Illinois’ rankings have changed since 2012.
Here is a summary of how Illinois stacks up to the rest of nation:
• Illinois’ economy ranks 45th
• The cost of doing business ranks 44th
• Business friendliness ranks 36th
• Quality of life ranks 30th
• Workforce ranks 29th
• Access to capital ranks 25th
• Cost-of-living ranks 23rd
• Education ranks 22nd
• Infrastructure and transportation ranks fifth
• Technology and innovation ranks fifth
Although Illinois did make some improvements according to the CNBC index, the state remains in the middle or bottom of the pack in most categories of competitiveness. That helps explain why the rate of entrepreneurship in Illinois has been below the national average every year since 1996 except for 2001.