Florida Ranks No. 3 for Business

Florida moved up in the ranks to become the third-best state in which to conduct business, according to Chief Executive magazine.

The magazine evaluated states on natural resources, regulation, tax policies, quality of living, education and infrastructure, among others. Florida ranked No. 10 in 2008.

Only Texas and North Carolina placed ahead on the list, which is based on surveys of more than 500 chief executives.

However, Florida didn't rank as high in some of the categories. For example, the Sunshine State ranked No. 42 when it comes to the cost of business, No. 18 for transportation, No. 39 for education and No. 23 for quality of life.

For the fourth year in a row, California and New York were ranked the worst and second worst states to do business in, respectively. Michigan came in third from the bottom for the second year in a row. The only difference in the bottom five was a flip in the worst fourth and fifth states, as New Jersey took over Massachusetts as the fourth worst state.

Chief Executive magazine said states that perform well in the rankings tend to have lower taxes and little unionization.

Source: Chief Executive magazine