Texas and Florida best for doing business in the US - yet again

The latest Chief Executive magazine survey places Texas and Florida at the top of the best states for doing business in the US. This is the 12th year in a row that the two states take the accolade, and the survey finds that Florida – currently in second place – is closing the gap on Texas as this BRIC Group news article explains.

The annual survey, Best and Worst States for Business, asks CEOs from all over the US to rank states according to the ease of doing business. There are three categories – taxation and business regulations; the quality of the workforce and living environment. This last category takes several aspects into account including the cost of living, the education system and state and local attitudes towards the business world.

In this year’s ranking Texas takes the top position with Florida just behind it, a pattern the two states have repeated since the first Chief Executive survey in 2004. The same thing occurs in the third and fourth places, again occupied by North Carolina and Tennessee respectively, while Indiana takes fifth position (up one) followed by Arizona with a rise of three places compared to last year.

Texas best for doing business in the US

For the CEOs interviewed in the survey, this southwestern state offers the friendliest business environment in the country. Specifically, the favourable economic reforms make Texas the best place for doing business in the US overall.

In the particular categories, Texas takes sixth place for its taxation and regulation regime, fifth for the quality of its workforce and tenth in the living environment. Chief Executive points out that although the Texan economy has suffered somewhat from the drop in oil prices, the state “is still held in high esteem by CEOs for its favourable economic reforms”.

As well as overall national winner, Texas sweeps the board in the regional stakes too. Here, the state competes with Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma – all states that moved up the rankings in 2016 – and takes the top spot in the region for all three categories.

Florida next best for doing business in the US

For the 12th year running Florida ranks as the second best state in the US for doing business. Although in 2016 the Sunshine State has been unable to overtake Texas for the prime spot, Chief Executive says that “each year, Florida steadily edges up in the qualitative measures”.

Among the many economic advances Florida has seen over the last five years, the survey highlights three key aspects. Firstly, job creation – since 2011, Florida has created 1 million new jobs in the private sector – unemployment in Florida in April stood at 4.8 per cent, below the national rate of 5 per cent.

Tax reductions are another major factor in a business environment and according to the Chief Executive survey, Florida has cut taxes 50 times over the last five years and abolished a total of 4,200 regulations that are described by the magazine as “burdensome”. It goes on to underline that in 2014, Florida became the third largest US state for best business practices, overtaking New York in the process.

In the specific categories for doing business, Florida is the seventh best state for tax regulations, the ninth best for living environment and lies in 23rd position for the quality of the workforce. Regionally, Florida competes in the southeast with ten other states including high-performers such as North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, in third, fourth and seventh places respectively in the national rankings. Within the region, Florida ranks in second place for tax and business regulations, sixth for workforce quality and fifth for living environment.

“Both Texas and Florida show consistently good results when it comes to doing business in the US,” says Dies Poppeliers, Managing Director of BRIC Group. “Job creation and tax reductions have been particularly impressive in Florida over the last few years and this has had a direct effect on the property market, boosting sales and prices.”

BRIC Group, an investment company specialising in global real estate opportunities, offers US real estate investments including turnkey properties in Florida and Houston, and land plots in Florida. BRIC Group is also developing The Coral resort, in Northeast Brazil, a luxury beachfront resort with land and villa investment opportunities. BRIC Group has been creating wealth for its clients since 1996 and has offices in Brazil, Dubai (consulting office), Hungary, Spain and the US.

(Source: Chief Executive magazine)