IOWA, USA — Iowa has jumped into the top 15 on CNBC's annual list of "America's Top States for Business," the first time it has done so since 2022.
Iowa ranked No. 14 in the 2024 rankings, which were released on Thursday. Iowa jumped nine spots in this year's rankings after placing No. 23 on CNBC's 2023 list. Iowa previously ranked No. 12 overall in 2022 and No. 21 overall in 2021.
Among the 12 Midwestern U.S. states as defined by the 2020 U.S. Census, Iowa finished fifth behind Minnesota (No. 6 overall), Ohio (No. 7), Michigan (No. 9) and Indiana (No. 11). CNBC ranked Virginia as the best U.S. state for business in 2024, followed by North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Florida.
This year, CNBC ranked all 50 states using 128 metrics in 10 broad categories of competitiveness, compared to 86 metrics used in the 2023 rankings.
In 2024, CNBC confirmed each state was ranked "based on the attributes they use to sell themselves." Each category was weighed based on how frequent that state uses them as a "selling point in economic development marketing materials," the report states.
Each of the 10 categories carried different value, and a state could earn as much as 2,500 points total. Each state was ranked based on the total amount of points they received.
Infrastructure (425 points), workforce (375 points) and economy (350 points) carried the most weight among the categories. In 2024, Iowa ranked No. 22 in both infrastructure and workforce, plus No. 27 in economy.
In the other categories, Iowa fared much better compared to the rest of the U.S.
Iowa ranked No. 2 overall in cost of living and finished in the top-15 in business friendliness (No. 10) and quality of life (No. 14). The rest of the categories factored in include cost of doing business, technology and innovation, education and access to capital.
Comparing Iowa's numbers in both 2023 and 2024, the state's most significant improvements in this year's rankings were in the following categories: business friendliness (up 23 spots), economy (up nine spots) and access to capital (up eight spots).
CNBC's full explanation of their methodology for the rankings can be viewed here.
Here is a list of the 10 categories and how Iowa ranked in 2024 compared to 2023:
- Infrastructure: No. 22 in 2024, No. 23 in 2023
- Workforce: No. 27 in 2024, No. 26 in 2023
- Economy: No. 33 in 2024, No. 42 in 2023
- Quality of life: No. 14 in 2024, No. 13 in 2023
- Cost of doing business: No. 17 in 2024, No. 20 in 2023
- Technology and innovation: No. 30 in 2024, No. 27 in 2023
- Business friendliness: No. 10 in 2024, No. 33 in 2023
- Education: No. 26 in 2024, No. 26 in 2023
- Access to capital: No. 27 in 2024, No. 35 in 2023
- Cost of living: No. 2 in 2024, No. 1 in 2023
