OHIO — Ohio has been ranked in the top five best states for business.
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Earlier this week, CNBC released its “America’s Top States for Business” rankings for 2025, and Ohio came in fifth overall.
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The study, which is in its 19th year, scored all 50 U.S. states on 135 business-related metrics that are separated into 10 broad categories.
The study identifies the factors that companies consider when making site selection decisions and those that states tout when looking to attract and retain businesses to form the categories.
The fifth-place ranking is an improvement from Ohio’s 2024 overall ranking of seventh place.
Ohio ranked first in Infrastructure, the second-heaviest weight category in the study, whereas in 2024 it ranked 13th.
The study enhanced its Infrastructure metrics in the 2025 edition to determine how states are delivering on companies’ power and data demands.
Ohio also landed in the top five of four of the other 10 broad categories, including second in Cost of Doing Business, sixth in Technology & Innovation, and seventh in both Access to Capital and Cost of Living.
However, Ohio ranked in the 20s for Economy, Business Friendliness, and Education, and at 31 for Workforce.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce included the “America’s Top States for Business” rankings in the benchmarks of its new three-year strategic plan to maintain economic competitiveness, with a top-five rank as one of its highest priorities.
“While these new rankings aren’t surprising, they are encouraging,” Steve Stivers, President & CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said. “We know Ohio is a great state — we have a low cost of living and a high quality of life, and our GDP is the seventh largest in the country. We’re proud that others are recognizing our potential as a top state for business. We do still have work to do, but our improvement this year shows that we’re certainly on the right track.”
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