States Friendly to "Small Business"!

A new ranking of state public policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council).

The 14th annual report, the "Small Business Survival Index 2009: Ranking the Policy Environment for Entrepreneurship Across the Nation,” is intended to measure which states are “friendly” to small business, and which are not, in terms of public policy decisions.

The index takes into account taxes, regulatory costs, government spending, property rights, health-care costs and energy costs. The SBE Council said this year’s index was expanded to include 36 major, government-imposed or government-related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. Measurements are added together for an overall rating.

In terms of their policy environments, the top entrepreneur-friendly states in the 2009 index were: 1) South Dakota, 2) Nevada, 3) Texas, 4) Wyoming, and 5) Washington. At the bottom were: 45) Rhode Island, 46) Maine, 47) Vermont, 48) New York, 49) California, 50) New Jersey, and 51) District of Columbia.

The full report is available here.
The Oakton, Va.-based Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit small-business and entrepreneurship advocacy group.