A financial website ranks Alabama as one of the least favorable places for starting a business in the U.S.
The study announced this week by personal finance website WalletHub ranks Alabama as the 42nd best state for startups in 2017.
Grading on a 100-point scale, WalletHub used 20 key indicators of startup success to come up with its “2017 Best & Worst States to Start a Business,” averaging the score on each — with 100 being best.
Metrics include office space expense, incentive spending, financing, an average length of the workweek, availability of human capital and the growth in the number of small businesses.
On that scale, Alabama scored 40.92 points — last in Business Environment, 31st in Access to Resources and ninth in Business Costs. Alabama is among the bottom five states with the lowest average growth in the number of small businesses.
However, the Yellowhammer State ranked in the top five for lowest labor costs, along with four other Southern states.
In relation to some of its neighbors, Alabama listed at or near the bottom: Florida is sixth, Georgia is eighth; Tennessee and Mississippi were 27th and 28th respectively.
Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey ranked lowest overall.
The company also asked a panel of nine experts for their business insights on four key questions:
- Do you believe that the economic policies being pursued by the Trump administration will promote new-business development?
- To what extent do state policies, such as corporate tax rates, influence decisions about whether and where to start a new business?
- Are tax breaks and other incentives to encourage new businesses overall a good or bad investment for states?
- What measures can state authorities undertake in order to encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses in their state?
Answers are available at WalletHub.com.
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