Forbs Says Utah Is Best In US For Businesses and Careers

Forbes Magazine has released its annual list of states with the best climates for businesses, and people building careers, and Utah tops the rankings.

Below are excerpts from the Forbes article about the list.

Who's doing the best job when it comes to fostering growth? Utah, according to our fifth annual look at the Best States for Business. The Beehive State captured the top spot in our rankings for the first time, after a four-year run by Virginia at the head of the list.

"We have a fiscally conservative government where we are trying to keep government off your backs and out of your wallet. We want the free market do what it does best," says Utah Gov. Gary Herbert...

Companies across the country are taking notice. Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ) keeps expanding its operations in Utah, and its Salt Lake City office is now the company's second-largest in North America. Adobe ( ADBE - news - people ) announced plans in August to build a new campus in Utah that will create 1,000 new jobs there, building on its $1.8 billion purchase of Orem-based Web analytic firm Omniture ( OMTR - news - people ) last year. Oracle ( ORCL - news - people ) and eBay ( EBAY - news - people ) are both building massive data centers outside Salt Lake City.

Our Best States ranking measures six vital categories for businesses: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. We factor in 33 points of data to determine the ranks in the six main areas. Business costs, which include labor, energy and taxes, are weighted the most heavily. We relied on 10 data sources, with research firm Moody's Economy.com as the most-utilized resource.