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Illinois Ranks 47th in Business Friendliness

A new ranking of best states for business is not favorable to Illinois.

CNBC scored all 50 states on 66 metrics to determine the economic climate of each - and how they stack up.

Those measures were then separated into 10 categories, including workforce, quality of life, education, cost of living, infrastructure and more.

One of those categories was "business friendliness," which measures regulation and litigation in the state - grading each on the "freedom their legal and regulatory frameworks provide for business."

In that regard, Illinois ranked close to the bottom, tying for 47th place with Hawaii. Just West Virginia and California ranked lower, respectively, while Illinois' highest-ranking neighbor was Indiana in 8th.

The number one state for business friendliness was New Hampshire, followed by South Dakota. 

Illinois fared slightly better in the overall rankings, coming in 31st with higher marks in "access to capital" (an examination of venture capital investments as well as traditional bank financing for businesses, in which Illinois ranked 5th).

The Land of Lincoln also ranked 12th in "technology and innovation," which scored support for tech advancements, number of patents issued, plus research grants awarded to the state.

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