CNBC ranks NC highly for business yet again. Here’s where the state placed.

North Carolina is ranked No. 2 in the United States for business, according to CNBC ratings revealed Friday, lagging behind Ohio ranked as No. 1.

North Carolina has ranked among the top three states overall for seven years in a row. This year, North Carolina is ranked No. 1 for economy and No. 3 for workforce.

Gov. Josh Stein announced that in 2025 a record-breaking 33,000 jobs were created with a $23 billion economic impact. More than 300,000 new jobs will be created in the state by 2028, the North Carolina Department of Commerce projected in 2021. Jobs in health care and professional, scientific and technical fields were expected to grow the most.

However, the state ranked lower in the CNBC ratings for cost of living, ranked as No. 35, and education, No. 12.

“When a state goes more than 1,000 days without passing a budget, you can’t be surprised to see some consequences,” Stein said in a press release Thursday. “Let’s keep building our success story by investing in people and lowering the cost of living so that we can build a safer, stronger, and more prosperous North Carolina.”

CNBC’s study scores all 50 states on 138 metrics across 10 categories of competitiveness, according to a press release.

“To determine the appropriate weight for each category, we start by analyzing each state’s economic development marketing materials. The more frequently a selling point is cited by the states, the more weight it carries in our study. That way, we are scoring the states based on the criteria they use to sell themselves,” CNBC Special Correspondent Scott Cohn said in a Tuesday article.

In 2026, infrastructure is what states prioritized the most in business, therefore infrastructure accounted for nearly 18% of a state’s total score. The economy represented 17% for the total score with the workforce in third at 14%.

CNBC uses the most recent data available. They also calculate some metrics on a per capita basis or use a state’s gross domestic product to allow smaller states to compete on an equal playing field.

Cohn said states receive a letter grade in each category to measure their performance relative to the competition. Grading is scaled, with the high score equal to 100% and the low score equal to 50%. However, each state’s overall ranking, as well as its ranking within each category, is based on the number of points scored.

Christopher Chung of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina told The News & Observer before the rankings were announced that the ranking wouldn’t change “the underlying fundamentals” of why North Carolina is a successful state for business.

“I’d love to have the number one ranking, because that is marketing gold, but we’ve had a lot of success even when we’re ranked number two, or five, or number three. It is a nice to have. It is not a must-have. There are fundamentals that are much more important to have versus a ranking,” he said.

Brian Gordon contributed to this article.

This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 2:07 PM.