Prince William County, Virginia - CNBC has named Virginia as America's "Top State for Business" for 2011.
"We’re honored that CNBC has named Virginia the 'Top State for Business' and that the Commonwealth received the highest score in the history of this study," said Governor Bob McDonnell. "Virginia is wide open for business.”
"“It’s a huge honor for Virginia to be ranked #1 in CNBC’s annual list of America’s Top States for Business and we are very proud of the recognition," said Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.
According to CNBC, to determine the rankings for America’s Top States for Business each state was scored - using publicly available data - on 43 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, Quality of Life, Economy, Infrastructure & Transportation, Technology & Innovation, Education, Business Friendliness, Access to Capital and Cost of Living.
“With an unprecedented fiscal crisis at the state level, never has it been tougher to stay competitive. But Virginia met the challenge on every level, achieving the highest point total in the history of our study, and finishing in the top half of every category, ” noted CNBC In their official release announcing the top ranking.
The Commonwealth of Virginia was also named "Top State for Business" by CNBC in 2007 and 2009. Virginia also occupied the top spot in Polina's rankings of the "Most Pro-Business" states in 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2003.
Accounting for 34% of economic development projects, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Prince William County is one of the strongest performing municipalties in the Commonwealth. As of May, 2011, Prince William County's unemployment rate is 5.1%, nearly a full percentage point below that of Virginia as a whole.1 According to the latest available data from the Virginia Employment comission, Prince William County added nearly 1,000 net jobs during the 4th quarter of 2010.2
Regional Unemployment 5/2009 - 5/2011
SOURCE: VEC. MSA data for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA. Not seasonally adjusted
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