Here Are the Top 5 'Best' & 'Worst' States for Business: Guess Which Ones CEOs Prefer

Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images.

It appears CEOs prefer doing business in states run by Republican governors, or so says Chief Executive magazine’s ninth annual “The Best and Worst States for Business” survey.

The survey asked 736 CEOs to grade states on a variety of “competitive metrics that CEOs themselves regard as critical,” including taxation and regulation, quality of workforce, and living environment.

“The tax and regulatory grade includes a measure of how CEOs grade a state’s attitude toward business, a key indicator,” the report write-up notes.

“In the minds of most leaders, a state’s friendliness is closely aligned with its tax and regulatory regime. Similarly, workforce quality also measures the perceived cooperativeness of workers with management, as well as the people’s general work ethic and education attainment,” the write-up reads.

“The living environment metric measures the perceived quality of education and public health facilities, as well as the affordability and quality of real estate, the transportation system and related environmental factors,” it adds.

And although three of the top 10 worst states for business are controlled by Republican governors, the top 10 best states, as noted by the Washington Examiner's Charlie Spiering, are allrun by Republican governors.

Here are the top five best states for business:

5. Indiana

Republican Gov. Mike Pence. (Getty Images)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

4. Tennessee

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

3. North Carolina

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

2. Florida

Republican Gov. Rick Scott. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

1. Texas

Republican Gov. Rick Perry. (Photo courtesy the Washington Times)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

And here are the top five worst states for business:

5. New Jersey

Republican Gov. Chris Christie. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

4. Massachusetts

Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

3. Illinois

Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

2. New York

Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

1. California

Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown. (AP photo)

Taxations & Regulations

Workforce Quality

Living Environment

Click here to see the full report.

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Featured image AEI.