Despite your everyday stigmas associated with North Dakota, anyone who lives here can tell you there are things to do and it is a great place to live. Thanks to the oil boom, there are more eyes on our state than ever before, and people are beginning to discover the multitude of great things about living here.

CNBC recently released its "America's Top States for Business", and North Dakota ranked #3 overall, only behind South Dakota (#1) and Texas (#2). CNBC ranks all 50 states on 51 different measures (based on publicly available data) divided into 10 different categories, including:

  • Cost of Doing Business
  • Economy
  • Infrastructure & Transportation
  • Workforce
  • Quality of Life
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Business Friendliness
  • Education
  • Cost of Living
  • Access to Capital

Each of the categories are weighted based on how frequently they are cited as selling points in state economic development marketing materials, therefore each of the states are held to their own standards.

North Dakota ranked the highest in the Economy (#2), Infrastructure & Transportation (#2), and Quality of Life (#5) categories, while ranking the lowest in Cost of Living (#30), Education (#36), and Technology & Innovation (#46).

Top 5 States for Business:

1. South Dakota
2. Texas
3. North Dakota
4. Nebraska
5. Utah/Virginia (tied)

Bottom 5 States for Business:

46. Nevada
47. California
48. West Virginia
49. Rhode Island
50. Hawaii

In your opinion, what's the best thing about living here?

[Source: CNBC]

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