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CNBC: Minnesota 5th Best State for Business, South Dakota 34th

CNBC has ranked the states for business in 2023. Minnesota ranks tops in the region at #5; South Dakota ranks #34.

OVERALL RANK STATE WORK-FORCE INFRA-
STRUCTURE
ECONOMY LIFE, HEALTH & INCLUSION COST OF DOING BUSINESS TECH & INNOVATION BUSINESS FRIEND-LINESS EDU-CATION ACCESS TO CAPITAL COST OF LIVING
5 Minnesota 17 3 24 4 39 4 30 13 20 17
23 Iowa 23 26 42 13 20 27 33 26 35 1
28 Nebraska 36 35 34 22 19 33 8 20 40 12
34 South Dakota 47 31 28 31 11 42 2 27 37 27
35 Montana 42 40 23 28 22 35 4 13 41 45
36 North Dakota 43 25 46 18 29 44 1 21 41 17
37 Wyoming 18 36 35 25 28 50 2 11 30 22

On ten components of business opportunity, South Dakota beats Minnesota on only two: the cost of doing business and “business friendliness”. Minnesota beats South Dakota on workforce, infrastructure, economy, quality of life, tech and innovation, education, access to capital, and even cost of living.

13 Comments

  1. sx123 2023-07-18 07:12

    All the elitist experts left the state.
    Our own governor says we don’t need them.

    So we’re stuck with ag, ag, ag, beer tents and rodeo.

  2. P. Aitch 2023-07-18 08:15

    South Dakota’s economy is described by Kristi, using the words of Ian Fury, as the “strongest “ in USA.
    Hey, Ian Fury. Is this what Hillsdale educators intend to instill in SD kids? Misinformation?

    The Assistant examines:

    The adjective “strong” can be considered ambiguous because it can have multiple meanings or interpretations depending on the context in which it is used.

    Because “strong” can be interpreted in multiple ways, its meaning is not always clear without additional context or clarification.

  3. 96Tears 2023-07-18 11:33

    Hillsdale’s starlet and yapping lapdog Ian Furry knows the value of rigging information and calling it a curriculum. He’s made a living from it. His boss, Kristi Noep, claims to have received a bachelor’s degree from SDSU in poly sci during her first term in Congress. Since then she’s accomplished nothing except getting elected in an overwhelmingly Republican state.

    Next door in Minnesota, the governor works hard, is bright and knowledgeable and gets tremendous accomplishments done. Tim Walz has a robust agenda and surrounds himself with the best and brightest. This is why Minnesota ranks #5 as the best state for business, and comatose South Dakota rates #34 — even though South Dakota doesn’t have an income tax. But the home crowd in South Dakota will never learn this because Noep and Furry rig the information with lies. That’s because lying is easier than working, especially when the home state press is inert.

    Minnesota gets the gold the old fashioned way. They earn it. Same way that South Dakota settles for bread crumbs.

  4. larry kurtz 2023-07-18 11:53

    States like New Mexico and those on Cory’s list with high numbers of Indigenous struggle to bridge cultural preservation with economic development and Republican governors are notorious for shackling Indian Country.

    We are up three points from last year and infrastructure in the Land of Enchantment deserves the ‘F’ CNBC gave us but Governor Lujan Grisham has pledged equity for all New Mexicans — Puebloan or not.

  5. Bonnie B Fairbank 2023-07-18 14:15

    What IS “business friendliness?” I tried to follow the CNBC link to see if they defined it, but I don’t turn off my ad blocker just because some site gets all whiny about it.

    Is it bf when a local merchant damages your property and says “so sue us?” Is it when a business “misplaces” a decimal and tries to convince the customer the charge is correct? Wait – I know! It’s bf when a gas station allows card skimmers to be attached to their pumps and 24 minutes later some scrote runs up a $370 charge at a Ralph’s in California on your MasterCard! Or maybe it’s when a business employee serenely watches a tRump patriot get their soft ball batting practice in on your Biden/Harris 2020 bumper sticker when he knows you’re in the store buying lock washers.

    Just examples of good ol’ fashioned SD “business friendliness.”

  6. All Mammal 2023-07-18 15:13

    Why, I oughta…

  7. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2023-07-19 05:57

    Bonnie, CNBC says that for Business Friendliness, “We measure each state’s lawsuit and liability climates, regulatory regimes covering areas such as trade and labor, as well as overall bureaucracy. We also consider how hospitable states are toward emerging industries including cryptocurrency and cannabis.” Evidently our efforts to stymie cannabis trade are only a minor factor in the calculation of our #2 rank in that category.

  8. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2023-07-19 06:02

    Weighing us down is our workforce ranking of #47. CNBC gave Workforce 400 points, 16% of its total 2500-point scale, the highest weight of any category.

    CNBC considers quality of life closely related to workforce—if your state is a nice place to live, workers will come and work. They weight Life Health & Inclusion 4th in their methodology, with 350 points: “We rate the states on livability factors like per capita crime rates, environmental quality, and health care. We look at worker protections. We look at inclusiveness in state laws, including protections against discrimination of all kinds, as well as voting rights, including accessible and secure election systems. With studies showing that childcare is one of the main obstacles to employees returning to the workforce, we consider the availability and affordability of qualified facilities. And with surveys showing a sizeable percentage of women considering reproductive rights in deciding where they are willing to live and work, we factor abortion laws into this category as well.” CNBC factors abortion rights into that metric, not because CNBC is a raging liberal media org, but because real women make real decisions based on how states treat them and abortion bans can drive working women and the men who love them away.

  9. Greg Deplorable 2023-07-19 08:58

    Is this kind’ve like the freedom caucus issuing their own scorecards?

  10. Jenny 2023-07-19 09:11

    The top ten is evenly divided among red and blue states, Greg. TN, Florida, Utah, North Carolina and TX are in the top ten.

  11. John 2023-07-19 17:28

    The US isn’t the worker magnet it once was and still pretends that it is.

    Canada began a program to attract tech workers from the US. The program hit its capacity in . . . ONE day. The program was to last one year, or until it received 10,000 applicants.
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/h-1b-program-canada-applications-full-1.6910448
    Comparing and contrasting South Dakota’s economy with those of its neighbors is looking for the cleanest dirty shirt. There is a great big world out there. We ought consider it.

    The average height of US citizens was once the tallest in the world. No more, by far. That matters because height is a reliable metric for the physical and social well-being of citizens. Similarly with longevity. The US life expectancy was falling BEFORE Covid, and continues accelerating in the wrong direction. Consider having that ’emigration talk’ with your kids and grandkids.

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