This month, two major state rankings surveys were released. Business Facilities released its annual “Best of the Best” report, which identifies the leading states in economic development and recognizes their successful growth sectors. The report ranked Virginia 4th this year – up from 9th in 2016 – and identified cybersecurity as a potential high-growth sector for the Commonwealth.
CNBC also released its annual “Top States for Business” survey. Virginia came in 9th this year, up from 13th in 2016. While we are pleased to see Virginia in the top 10, a lot of states are also working to improve their national rankings and Virginia still has work to do to get back to the top spot.
As we continue to collect data and input for Blueprint Virginia, state rankings such as these give us better insight into the specific ways we can improve our economy. We are pleased to be working closely with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership on identifying specific strategies for improvement, which will be incorporated into the final Blueprint Virginia 2025 plan. Over the rest of the summer, our team will be focused on finalizing these recommendations.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll also be meeting with the candidates for Governor of Virginia to share some preliminary results from our polling of nearly 5,000 business leaders from around the Commonwealth. The final Blueprint 2025 plan will be presented to the Governor-elect on December 1st at the Virginia Economic Summit. We hope you’ll mark your calendar!
