For all of our problems — and God knows, we dwell on them here at Bacon’s Rebellion — it gives us great cheer to see that Forbes magazine, in its first-ever ranking of the business climates of the 50 states, ranked Virginia number one.
The Old Dominion has the best regulatory environment in the country. Business costs are very low, particularly taxes and energy costs. Also noteworthy, according to Forbes, are Virginia’s AAA bond rating, low workers compensation costs and excellent system of higher education. Encouraging, too, is the fact that the state scored in the bottom half of only three of Forbes’ 30 metrics. As a Forbes writer reportedly told Gov. Timothy M. Kaine: “Not only are you guys first, there’s not even a close second.”
Read Forbes’ profile of Virginia here. And see the state rankings here. Texas ranked second, North Carolina third and Maryland 11th. (For what it’s worth, Delaware ranked 8th, Florida 9th and Georgia 10th. Can the southern Atlantic seaboard claim to be the most dynamic region in the country?)
As a Richmond resident, I was delighted to see the attention that Forbes gave to MeadWestvaco’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters from Connecticut to my home town. Richmond is indeed a great place to do business and richly deserves the recognition. But I found it curious that Forbes could write about Virginia’s business climate without once alluding to the technology-driven economy in Northern Virginia, which has been out-performing its high-tech peers in job creation for several years now. If Forbes editors pay attention to their own survey, perhaps they will dedicate more resources to covering Northern Virginia’s increasingly dynamic business community.
