Recently, the Peach State had the honor of ranking No. 1 on CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business 2014. All 50 states were scored on 56 measures of competitiveness, which were then separated into 10 broad categories including cost of doing business, economy, workforce, quality of life and more. Georgia ranked No. 1, just above Texas, Utah, Nebraska and North Carolina, respectively.
CNBC began this annual ranking seven years ago, with Georgia always landing in the top 10. For the past three years, Georgia’s best-ranking categories have been workforce and infrastructure. The system ranks states on a number of points, with Georgia scoring 1,659 points out of a possible 2,500. A breakdown of Georgia’s categories and point totals is as follows:
- Cost of Doing Business – 268 out of 450 points
- Economy – 309 out of 375 points
- Infrastructure – 309 out of 350 points
- Workforce – 225 out of 300 points
- Quality of Life – 133 out of 300 points
- Technology and Innovation – 212 out of 300 points
- Business Friendliness – 141 out of 200 points
- Education – 68 out of 150 points
- Cost of Living – 29 out of 50 points
- Access to Capital – 20 out of 25 points
Georgia’s workforce is one of the strongest in the nation, with a large supply of educated, nonunionized workers. While Georgia’s economic growth trails the national recovery rate, the study takes into account the future projected growth of the economy, as well as the state’s rebounding housing market. The state of Georgia also topped the list’s Infrastructure category thanks to having top-tier roads and bridges, the port of Savannah, which had a record year in 2013, and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which has been the world’s busiest airport for 16 straight years.
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