Texas Declared America’s Top State For Business

Washington, D.C. – Texas is America’s Top State for Business according to the results of a CNBC study that scored each state on 40 different measures of competitiveness. Gov. Perry joined CNBC’s “Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo” in Washington, D.C. this afternoon for the announcement.

“We live in a world that moves faster than at any time in history,” Gov. Perry said. “Knowledge and capital are rapidly being deployed to parts of the world where the right combination of talent, technology, business climate, infrastructure and markets converge. I believe Texas is that place, now more than ever.”

CNBC’s ranking adds to the growing list of accomplishments and accolades for Texas’ business climate. The Lone Star State is now home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state in the nation, and was recently named the “Best State to Do Business” by CEO Magazine for the third year in a row.

In the past five years, Texas has created 1.2 million net new jobs. In the last year alone, more than half of all jobs created in the United States were in Texas.

“There is simply no better place to live, work, grow a business and raise a family than the great State of Texas,” said Gov. Perry. “We have the best business climate in the country and remain globally competitive thanks to our reasonable regulations, low taxes, fair legal environment, educated workforce and an unparalleled quality of life.”

CNBC scored each state using publicly available data to determine the rankings. States received points based on ten broad categories including: cost of doing business, workforce, economy, education, quality of life, technology and innovation, transportation, cost of living, business friendliness, and access to capital. Texas’ strongest showings were in economy, technology and innovation, transportation and cost of living.

The complete study is available on http://www.cnbc.com/id/25350187/site/14081545/.