These are the finalists of Top States for Business 2021

The pandemic has changed the battle between states for business and jobs, and the race to become America’s best state for business. This year’s finalists in the CNBC Annual State Competitiveness Study reflect the strengths of some perennial favorites, but also recent emerging states and a top-five top five that has excelled in categories that have risen and evolved. .

Published every year since 2007, with the exception of last year at the height of the pandemic, this year’s Top States study, which ran for six months, assessed states on more metrics than ever before, 85 , in ten categories of competitiveness: Cost of practice Businesses, Infrastructures; Life, health and inclusion (formerly quality of life), workforce, economy, business friendliness, access to capital, technology and innovation, education and cost of living.

Here are the 2021 finalists for CNBC’s Top State for Business in America, along with the strengths and weaknesses that determined their scores and overall rankings.

Tennessee makes its first appearance in the top five, propelled by the nation’s second-best economy (after Idaho) and eighth-lowest cost to do business. Cost of operations is the most weighted category in 2021, overtaking labor, which was the # 1 category for years.

The cost of doing business includes the assessment of a state’s fiscal climate for business, as well as the costs of wages, utilities and real estate. This year’s study looked at the incentives and tax breaks states offer to reduce business costs, with a particular focus on incentives targeted toward development in disadvantaged communities.

Fourth place would be good for most states, but not for Texas. This year’s result is tied for the worst ever for the four-time Top State, who last won in 2018.

Texas is fourth due to the strength of its workforce and its economy. The labor market emerging from the pandemic is tight and states are aggressively touting the quality of their workforce, keeping the importance of this category high in the annual rankings.

But Texas has been hit this year by policies that work against the study’s increased focus on inclusion. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, continues those efforts in a special session that began last week.

This year’s study has reinvented the category formerly known as Quality of Life as the nation changes the way it thinks about health care and focuses on racial and social justice. The new category, Life, Health and Inclusion, includes traditional measures of quality of life such as crime rates, health care and environmental quality. But it also takes a close look at health care resources and states’ progress in ending the pandemic and on equity and inclusion.

In addition to the political climate in Texas, the state’s public health system is underfunded, has the highest uninsured rate in the country, and a low Covid-19 vaccination rate.

Utah’s third place came with the third best economy in the United States, which has proven to be resilient amid the pandemic in 2020, contracting less than any other state amid closures and resuming its boom in the fourth trimester.

As businesses emerge from the pandemic, state finances and strong economies are a key factor in site selection and expansion plans. Some of the economic factors assessed by the CNBC annual study include economic growth and job growth over the past year, credit ratings and outlook, as well as the overall state budget, including expenses, income and reserves, as well as retirement obligations.

Utah’s infrastructure has also helped, with the country’s most reliable power grid, but it loses a few points for a relatively weak public health system.

North Carolina notched its best result of all time, narrowly missing Top State honors by 41 points.

The Tar Heel State scores well on several key metrics including economy and workforce.

The country’s largest company has taken note of these strengths, with Apple placing its first corporate campus on the east coast in the Research Triangle area outside of Raleigh earlier this year.

But like Texas, it lags behind on life, health and inclusion, without a statewide public housing law to protect non-disabled residents from discrimination according to the National Conference of state legislatures.

Tune in to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday at 8 am when the best US state for business in 2021 is revealed and visit The best US states for business for full rankings, scores and status scores.