Categories: Where to Start a Business

Thumbtack.com’s Friendliest States for Small Business

Ever wonder what states are the most business friendly? Or which ones have the most transparent steps to creating a registered business?

Thumbtack.com:
Linking local service professionals to potential customers

A quick Google search will reveal a myriad of studies, articles and opinions on that very question. But Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Kauffman Association, actually interviewed over 6,000 small business owners to see where individual state ranked in terms of business friendliness. And they uncovered some extremely interesting facts. For example, there were substantial difference between how supportive men and women thought certain states were; women entrepreneurs in Iowa were half as likely to rate their state as supportive of them as men were. And small business care almost twice as much about licensing regulations as they do about tax rates when ranking their state!

This type of insight is extremely important, and highly useful, for entrepreneurs researching possible states to incorporate in. Popular opinion is usually that the state with the lowest tax rate was always the most business friendly, but that old supposition has been blown out of the water thanks to Thumbtack.

The most business friendly states, with all of the metrics considered, were Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah while California, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont were awarded a failing grade.

Thumbtack.com has released all of this information both in the form of an interactive map. If you’d like to look at the raw data, the link to that information is at the end of the “Survey findings and summary” section.

Deborah Sweeney

Deborah Sweeney is an advocate for protecting personal and business assets for business owners and entrepreneurs. With extensive experience in the field of corporate and intellectual property law, Deborah provides insightful commentary on the benefits of incorporation and trademark registration.

Education: Deborah received her Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Pepperdine University, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of West Los Angeles and San Fernando School of Law in corporate and intellectual property law.

Experience: After becoming a partner at LA-based law firm, Michel & Robinson, she became an in-house attorney for MyCorporation, formerly a division in Intuit. She took the company private in 2009 and after 10 years of entrepreneurship sold the company to Deluxe Corporation. Deborah is also well-recognized for her written work online as a contributing writer with some of the top business and entrepreneurial blogging sites including Forbes, Business Insider, SCORE, and Fox Business, among others.

Fun facts/Other pursuits: Originally from Southern California, Deborah enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons, Benjamin and Christopher, and practicing Pilates. Deborah believes in the importance of family and credits the entrepreneurial business model for giving her the flexibility to enjoy both a career and motherhood. Deborah, and MyCorporation, have previously been honored by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal’s List of the Valley’s Largest Women-Owned Businesses in 2012. MyCorporation received the Stevie Award for Best Women-Owned Business in 2011.