INDIANAPOLIS – Chief Executive magazine’s annual “Best & Worst States for Business” survey has once again found Indiana is primed for business. For the fifth consectuvie year, the publication ranks Indiana fifth, noting a diversifying economy with a focus on innovation and technology.
The survey conducted to calculate the rankings found manufacturing is still king in Indiana, but listed ActiveCampaign, eHealth and Zotec as new operations established in the state.
It also highlighted the Next Level Connections Program and its $1 billion in infrastructure, as well as Innovative Indiana Plan, the Road to One Million Plan in northeast Indiana and Indiana’s Great Southwest plan.
It’s the 16th year of the survey, and Texas finished first for the 16th time. After Texas, the list has Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Indiana rounding out the top five. North Carolina dropped two spots to No. 6, while Nevada gained three spots to move to No. 3.
The survey found about 52% of site-selection projects were paused across the nation by the pandemic.
“Like the stock market, a lot of site-selection projects are built on speculation, on confidence in how things will look one or two years down the road,” says Brian Corde, co-founder of Atlas Insight. “If confidence isn’t high, it slows the pace.”
The bottom five of the survey did not change from 2019, with Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, New York and California bringing up the rear. Click here for a full breakdown of the survey and click here for the full list of rankings.