Survey ranks Utah as economic best-performing US state
Washington, California, Massachusetts and Colorado are also highly-rated, with Arkansas and Mississippi at the bottom of the table.
Washington, California, Massachusetts and Colorado are also highly-rated, with Arkansas and Mississippi at the bottom of the table.
Washington, California, Massachusetts and Colorado are also highly-rated, with Arkansas and Mississippi at the bottom of the table.
The US economy is growing steadily amid a stalling global recovery, with many American states rallying from the Great Recession while others still struggle to make up their losses, reports personal finance website WalletHub.
To determine which states are the top economic performers in the US, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: economic activity, economic health and innovation potential.
The rankings, shown in ‘2016’s States with the Best & Worst Economies’, suggest that overall the state of Utah is the best overall performer economically out of the 51 rated with a total score of 71.55 out of 100.
Points out of 40 were awarded for economic activity and also for economic health, while points out of 20 were given for innovation potential.
Although Utah came second to Washington for economic activity, second to the District of Columbia for economic health and was behind Massachusetts, California and Washington
for innovation potential, its strong overall performance in the three categories gives it first place overall.
The ‘top five’ is completed by Washington DC (70.68 out of 100); California (67.84); Massachusetts (65.58) and Colorado (60.81).
At the bottom of the league, with the five worst overall scores are New Mexico (34.52); Maine (34.34); West Virginia (34.31); Arkansas (33.94) and Mississippi (31.86).
However, rankings for the five states with highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth show North Dakota in top position, followed by Texas, Wyoming, West Virginia and Colorado. The lowest GDP growth is shown by Alaska.
Florida is rated as having the highest business start-up activity, followed by Nevada, Utah and Colorado with fifth place shared by California and North Dakota. The lowest business start-up activity is recorded by West Virginia.
Other rankings include the states with the most venture capital funding per capita, where top slot is shared by California, Massachusetts and New York followed by the District of Columbia and Utah. The bottom position in this category is held by North Dakota.