Illinois Ranks 19th Among America’s Top States For Business: CNBC

ILLINOIS — Illinois’ business infrastructure and technology and innovation propelled it to No. 19 in America’s Top States for Business in 2022, the business and financial news network CNBC’s annual competitiveness ranking.

Last year, The Land of Lincoln ranked 15th in the competitiveness rankings, weighted according to the frequency states use attributes such as the strength of the workforce, the state of infrastructure development, and the cost of doing business as selling points in their economic development materials, CNBC said.

In all, CNBC measured how well the states performed across 88 metrics in 10 categories. For the first time, child-care resources and support for emerging industries such as cryptocurrency and cannabis were included in the competitiveness rankings. States can earn a total of 2,500 points.

In the 2022 report, Illinois accumulated 1,344 points:

• Workforce: 215 points, C letter grade
• Infrastructure: 256 points, A letter grade
• Cost of doing business: 169 points, B- letter grade
• Economy: 111 points, F letter grade
• Life, health, and inclusion: 167 points, C- letter grade
• Technology and innovation: 172 points, A- letter grade
• Business friendliness: 72 points, F letter grade
• Education: 112 points, A- letter grade
• Access to capital: 39 points, B+ letter grade
• Cost of living: 31 points, B- letter grade

Illinois dropped four spots over the past year at a time when several companies, including Caterpillar, Boeing, and Citadel all announced that they were moving their corporate headquarters elsewhere, citing a number of factors. All three committed to still doing business in Illinois but cited the state’s issues for their decision to pull up stakes.

North Carolina topped the ranking, moving up from No. 2 last year. CNBC noted that’s partly because “political leaders in the Tar Heel State keep managing to put partisanship aside to build the nation’s strongest economy.”

Rounding out the top five were Washington, Virginia, Colorado, and Texas.

To determine how well the states performed, CNBC relied on publicly available federal data but also commissioned reports from real estate and labor market data collection firms. State economic development and financial data from each state were also used. For more, read the full methodology.