Virginia Is America's Top State For Business, According To CNBC Exclusive Study

CNBC's Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn Reveals America's Top 5 States for Business Today on CNBC's Business Day Programming

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, today revealed the results of its third annual study of America's Top States for Business with Virginia topping the list.

CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn broadcasted live yesterday from the State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia and counted down the top five states throughout CNBC's Business Day programming, beginning with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (9AM-11AM ET).

Virginia takes over the number one spot today from last year's Top State, Texas. "The economic slowdown had quite an effect on our rankings this year, but Virginia once again wins points for its business-friendly legal and regulatory climate," said Cohn.

To determine the rankings for America's Top States for Business, each state was scored - using publicly available data - on 40 different measures of competitiveness. States received points based on their rankings in each metric, which were then separated into ten broad categories: Cost of Doing Business, Workforce, Economy, Education, Quality of Life, Technology and Innovation, Transportation & Infrastructure, Business Friendliness, Cost of Living and Access to Capital.

America's Top 5 States for Business:

1. Virginia (Highest Rank - #2 in Business Friendliness; Lowest Rank - #27 Cost of Living)

2. Texas (Highest Rank - #1 in Economy and Transportation & Infrastructure; Lowest Rank - #33 Cost of Doing Business)

3. Colorado (Highest Rank - #5 in Economy and Business Friendliness; Lowest Rank - #36 Transportation & Infrastructure)

4. Iowa (Highest Rank - #1 in Cost of Doing Business; Lowest Rank - #34 Access to Capital)

5. Utah (Highest Rank - #7 in Cost of Doing Business, Quality of Life & Business Friendliness; Lowest Rank - #34 Transportation & Infrastructure)

Why do some states attract more business than others? How do they do it? Find out how your state stacked up and tell us why your state is good for business. The complete study, including scores and rankings for each of the 50 states is available at topstatesforbusiness.cnbc.com.