California got a below-average No. 30 ranking among the states when my trusty spreadsheet looked at eight yardsticks of economic well-being from a business perspective. That’s not terribly surprising, given all the C-suite criticism of the state’s often pro-consumer leanings.
Idaho scored the best, then Montana, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont. Golden State rivals Texas and Florida were No. 29 and No. 25, respectively. The business news network’s “best state for business” scorecard – it sort of mirrors my scorecard – placed California at No. 23. For all the noise about big-name companies departing, California’s economic secret sauce is its entrepreneurs’ knack for creating new ventures.
When applied to each state’s eight individual grades used in my scorecard, this geeky math shows California’s grades had the highest deviation. Next for heavily mixed reviews were North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Arkansas. Texas had the 24th-highest deviation and Florida was ninth-highest.