Study says red states smash blue states as the best for business start-ups

The three broad categories used to reach this conclusion are: business environment, access to resources, and business cost

WalletHub's "2023's Best & Worst States to Start a Business" it out, and suggests that if you want to start a business, you should target red states. 

In this study, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 27 key indicators of startup success to determine the most fertile grounds in which to launch and grow an enterprise.

The top five best states to start a business, beginning with #1, are: Utah, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. Just one of these, Colorado, is under Democrat control.

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The top five worst states to start a business, beginning with #46, are: Rhode Island, New Jersey, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Alaska. Just two of these, West Virginia and Alaska, are under Republican control, and Alaska has unique geography and climate. 

The three broad categories used to reach this conclusion are: business environment, access to resources, and business cost. Of the three, the only category that had a strong showing from blue states was "access to resources." 

Source: WalletHub

"Business environment" was calculated by comparing data such as five-year business survival rate, job growth, and GDP growth. However, it did elect to give "double weight" to some categories such as percentage of the population that is vaccinated and employee "enthusiasm." This is a possible explanation for California's #2 placement in this category despite such a poor showing in business cost. 

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The category in which blue states had the worst showing was, by far, "business costs" which was calculated by comparing data points such as labor costs, corporate taxes, cost of living, and local taxes. In this list, the first reliably blue state was Maine, #18, with the largest stretch of them coming after Minnesota, #33. 

The top five worst states for business cost, starting at #46, are: Connecticut, New York, Maryland, California, and New Jersey. 

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"Policymakers should be mindful not to erect barriers to business formation…tax and regulatory policies, for example," Richard Ryffel, Professor of Finance Practice at Washington University in St. Louis said. "Beyond that, ensuring that the local business ‘ecosystem’ is favorable to business formation is key."