Texas Ranked the No. 1 State for Business Again, Completing a Major Comeback

Everyone knows the Lone Star State means business. So is it any surprise Texas is ranked the No. 1 state for business in America? Again.

A new CNBC study determined that Texas reigns supreme and tops the America’s Top States for Business rankings. The Lone Star State took the crown with 1, 651 points out of a possible 2,500, recapturing the No. 1 spot for the first time since 2012. Each state is scored based on 10 broad, business-centric categories, with 64 metrics across them. The categories include Cost of Doing Business, Workforce, Quality of Life, Economy, Infrastructure, Technology & Innovation, Education, Business Friendliness, Access to Capital and Cost of Living.

Since the study’s inception back in 2007, Texas has placed in the Top 5 every single year, and it’s the only state to have won four times. This year, Texas landed in the Top 5 in five of the competition’s categories. Not to brag or anything, but it also won two categories outright.

Texas showed off its business-friendly chops by introducing 350,000 new jobs this year, experiencing impressive economic growth — let’s not forget the solid 5.2 percent increase in state GDP in the fourth quarter. Add that all up and you get first place in the Economy category. That’s up significantly from Texas’ 25th placing in the Economy category last year, when it tumbled in the overall rankings. Texas also ranked first in Infrastructure.

CNBC special correspondent Scott Cohn reported on Texas’ supersized success live from Enchanted Rock today during the business channel’s Squawk Box program. Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta also appeared, offering his insights on why any tycoon or would-be tycoon would love Texas.

“With its robust economy, solid infrastructure and world class workforce, Texas is always tough to beat. It is even more so when the energy industry is healthy, as it is now,” Cohn said on-air.

But there are some areas to work on, like Quality of Life, where Texas came in at just 31st, and Education, where Texas finished a woeful 37th. CNBC’s study even notes that Texas schools “have huge problems.”

On top of Economy and Infrastructure,  Texas also came in third in the Access to Capital category, seventh in Cost of Doing Business and ninth in Technology and Innovation.

You know Texas. It’s always taking care of business. And it’s back to No. 1.