Virginia notches an unparalleled sixth win in CNBC’s annual state competitiveness rankings, and its third victory in five years, just barely besting last year's No. 1 North Carolina in the closest finish ever.
But where Virginia's infrastructure really shines is in the wealth of shovel-ready sites the state offers for companies that want to build fast. The state's economic development arm has certified dozens of sites across the Commonwealth, promising that all utilities and infrastructure can be in place within 18 months.
The Site Selectors Guild, which gathered some of the data on site readiness for the CNBC study, said Virginia's program is one of the most advanced and well funded of its kind in the nation. At the K-12 level, Virginia offers some of the most individualized K-12 instruction in the nation, with an average of 10.9 students per teacher last year, according to the National Education Association. That appears to be translating to solid test scores.Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin places his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 18, 2023.
"Virginia has a population migration problem. The data is irrefutable," Youngkin said in January. "For 10 years now, more people moved away, rather than to Virginia, from the other 49 states." The CNBC study measures all 50 states across 10 categories of competitiveness, for a total of 2,500 possible points. Virginia scores 1,595 points to capture this year's crown.assigns a weight to each category based on how frequently states cite it as a selling point. The idea is to measure the states based on the criteria they use to pitch themselves to business.The 2024 CNBC rankings produced the tightest finish in Top States history.