FSB Who loves small business best? 2006
Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations? Exclusive rankings for FSB.com from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.*
Full list
1 South Dakota 26.36
2 Nevada 29.92
3 Wyoming 35.84
4 Alabama 40.33
5 Washington 40.42
6 Florida 40.82
7 Mississippi 41.09
8 Colorado 42.68
9 Texas 42.71
10 Michigan 42.74
11 South Carolina 44.56
12 Indiana 44.87
13 Tennessee 44.97
14 Virginia 45.46
15 Arizona 45.75
16 Pennsylvania 45.86
17 Alaska 46.77
18 New Hampshire 47.26
19 Delaware 47.31
20 Arkansas 48.16
21 Illinois 48.49
22 Missouri 49.24
23 Oklahoma 49.46
24 North Dakota 49.85
25 Georgia 49.90
26 Utah 50.10
27 Wisconsin 51.48
28 Maryland 51.85
29 New Mexico 52.51
30 Montana 53.90
31 Nebraska 54.22
32 Connecticut 54.25
33 Louisiana 54.27
34 Idaho 54.52
35 Kansas 54.80
36 Kentucky 56.27
37 West Virginia 56.66
38 Ohio 56.73
39 Oregon 57.06
40 North Carolina 57.48
41 Iowa 57.76
42 Vermont 59.48
43 Massachusetts 61.06
44 Hawaii 62.61
45 New York 62.65
46 Minnesota 63.59
47 Maine 63.99
48 Rhode Island 64.97
49 California 65.12
50 New Jersey 65.35
51 Washington, D.C.** 75.42
Footnotes:
* SBE Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit which advocates for reduced government taxes and regulations on small business, tends to lobby for the Republican agenda when it comes to taxes and regulations.
** Washington, D.C. was not included in a study ranking states by liability systems, so DC.'s index score is underestimated.
Low taxes
1 South Dakota
2 Nevada
3 Wyoming
Low energy costs
1 Kentucky
2 West Virginia
3 Missouri
How we ranked the states
Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations? In these exclusive rankings for FSB.com, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. used their Small Business Survival Index to rate the 50 states and Washington, D.C. according to some of the major government-imposed or -related costs affecting investment, entrepreneurship, and business. SBE Council, which advocates for reduced government taxes and regulations on small business, supports a mostly Republican agenda. (more)

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.