Best States to Start a Business in 2024
Starting a business can be tricky, especially when there’s red tape involved in registering and running a business and financial help is beyond reach.
As an aspiring entrepreneur, knowing which are the best states to start a business and how they stack up against one another can help to facilitate the decision-making process.
Here’s a look at the 10 best states to open a business in 2024.
10 best states to start a business in 2024
Utah is the best state to start a business in 2024, according to results from a recent study. The study measures 25 different metrics across three major business areas—business environment, access to resources, and cost—to evaluate and rank states according to how favorable their conditions for starting a business are.
Out of a possible score of 100, the state of Utah has 61.08 points. It’s also the state with the best access to resources and the state with the largest employment growth over the past year. Tied first with South Dakota, Utah also provides one of the easiest accesses to financing.
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Georgia secures the second spot, closely trailing Utah with a score of 60.22, a mere 0.86 points behind. Notably, the Peach State stands out for its remarkable combination of rapid business revenue growth and favorable corporate tax rates.
Florida and Idaho rank next, with scores of 60.17 and 58.69, respectively. Nevada rounds out the five best states to start a business, scoring 56.68. Incidentally, Idaho is also the state that has experienced the biggest growth in the number of small businesses in the past year.
Here are the remaining five on this list of the 10 best states to start a business in 2024 and their corresponding scores:
- Arizona: 56.51
- Colorado: 56.44
- Texas: 56.19
- North Carolina: 54.86
- Tennessee: 53.32
Best states to start a business: business costs
Mississippi is the state with the best conditions when it comes to overall business costs. This is followed by Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Breaking this category down, Mississippi offers the lowest labor costs—they’re half of Maryland’s—the state with the highest labor costs.
Office space rent is also a key consideration for new businesses and the study shows that Iowa has the lowest rents for office spaces. Office rental prices there are half that of Alaska, California, and New York, the states with the highest office rentals.