A view of downtown Fort Myers, one of Southwest Florida's largest business centers. Florida ranked eighth in CNBC's 2026 America's Top States for Business study after slipping from third last year, with lower scores in infrastructure, the economy and business friendliness.
Florida dropped five spots to No. 8 in CNBC's America's Top States for Business 2026 rankings, reflecting declines in infrastructure, the economy, quality of life and business friendliness. The annual study evaluated all 50 states using 138 metrics across 10 categories, including infrastructure, workforce, economy and cost of doing business. Florida remained among the nation's top performers for workforce (No. 2) and access to capital (No. 4) while improving to 10th in technology and innovation and 15th in cost of doing business. CNBC cited a softening housing market, power grid reliability concerns and slower permit approvals as factors behind Florida's lower ranking. Ohio claimed the top spot for the first time, followed by North Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Minnesota.
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The states that are now ahead of Florida are all not only business friendly but also receptive to data center business. They are not short-sighted and buying into the anti-data center hysteria. Data centers are a huge business opportunity. They add jobs, support the community infrastructure and are now adding to the power grid by developing their own power supplies. Water usage is no longer an issue with immersion cooling using less water than a resort or golf course. The data center industry is continuing to work on improvements and will be a great neighbor and type of business that states are looking to attract.
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