Arizona ranks as top spot in terms of starting a business

PHOENIX — Looking to build your business from the ground up?

If you reside in Arizona, you may have an easier time achieving your goals.

Using business environment, access to resources and business costs, WalletHub compiled a list of all 50 states, ranking the Copper State at No. 7 for best places to start a business.

“That really comes down to its overall business environment,” Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst, told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “A pretty high growth in the number of small businesses, pretty acceptable financing and relatively low labor costs.”

Out of the three categories, Arizona’s business environment — average length of work week, growth in the number of small businesses, startups per capita, etc. — was its highest attribute, ranking ninth among the 50 states.

Arizona ranked 12th and 29th for access to resources and business costs, respectively.

And although the state ranks in the top 10, there’s at least one area of improvement, according to Gonzalez.

“Arizona could do a little bit better just in terms of overall office space affordability right now, but other than that it did pretty good across the board,” she said.

Arizona also ranked last in least accessible financing, per the ranking.

Texas took the ranking’s top honors, boasting a first place rank for business environment.

Rhode Island was the opposite, landing at 50th with the worst business environment in the country.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Madison Spence contributed to this report.

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