The pandemic cratered economic development for now
, but it hasn’t changed CEOs’ opinions about three important things: Texas remains the best place in America to do business, in their eyes; having a capable workforce is still their top concern, despite now-record unemployment; and states’ “blue” political leanings concern them—except when they don’t.
Welcome to
Chief Executive’s annual “Best & Worst States for Business” survey, Covid edition. Once again, for the 16th year out of the 16 years we have conducted our poll,
Texas ranks No. 1. Despite the shutdown of much of its oil industry by the coronavirus recession, the state retains extremely business-friendly characteristics and policies. The rest of the top 10 states also remained essentially unchanged from the 2019 rankings.
Similarly, the bottom 10 in the rankings were relatively frozen, with California once again in last place. (See the full list.)