SBE Council chief economist Raymond J. Keating, author of the study, said: “It’s hard to find any good news at the national level for entrepreneurs, small business and their employees.

The U.S. economy slipped into a recession in December 2007, with matters getting far worse late last year. Congress and the White House have not offered positive solutions to help the job-creating sector. In fact, most of their actions will hurt, not help, small businesses. But what about the states?

The ‘Small Business Survival Index’ helps business owners and investors understand the public policy burdens placed on entrepreneurship and small business, with the states ranked accordingly.” Keating continued: “Policy matters. Most politicians talk a good game when it comes to small business, but their actions don’t often match their rhetoric.

The ‘Small Business Survival Index’ gets at the public policy costs and trends that affect – directly or indirectly – entrepreneurship and small businesses. These measures should matter to everyone because small businesses, of course, drive innovation, economic growth and job creation. If we want to get our economy back on a solid, robust growth track, then we need pro-entrepreneur policies at the federal, state and local levels.”

The “Small Business Survival Index” is the most comprehensive measure of which states are truly friendly to small business, and which are not in terms of public policy decisions. The factors included in the Index – taxes, various regulatory costs, government spending, property rights, health care and energy costs, and much more – matter a great deal to the competitiveness of each state and to the well being of small business.

The 2009 Index has been expanded to cover 36 major government-imposed or government-related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. The measures are added together for an overall rating.

Following are the Small Business Survival Index 2009: State Rankings
1 South Dakota
2 Nevada
3 Texas
4 Wyoming
5 Washington
6 Florida
7 South Carolina
8 Colorado
9 Alabama
10 Virginia
11 Ohio
12 Alaska
13 Tennessee
14 Utah
15 Indiana
16 Arizona
17 North Dakota
18 Missouri
19 Mississippi
20 Georgia
21 Oklahoma
22 Kentucky
23 Michigan
24 Illinois
25 Arkansas
26 Kansas
27 Pennsylvania
28 New Mexico
29 Louisiana
30 Wisconsin
31 Montana
32 Idaho
33 New Hampshire
34 Nebraska
35 Delaware
36 West Virginia
37 Maryland
38 Oregon
39 North Carolina
40 Connecticut
41 Iowa
42 Hawaii
43 Minnesota
44 Massachusetts
45 Rhode Island
46 Maine
47 Vermont
48 New York
49 California
50 New Jersey
51 Dist. of Columbia
(Please note that the District of Columbia was not included in the studies covering three of the measures included in the Index, so D.C.’s last place score is actually worse.)


                                                                                 Cecilia Helland