Illinois Among Tops for Business in 2025

This is another case of "would you like the good news or the bad news first?". Let's start with the good. Illinois has just been ranked among the top states for business in 2025, but it's not all sunshine and roses either.

I want to be clear from the start that this new ranking for the best states for business that was just shared a few days ago by CNBC is confusing. To their credit, their methodology includes dozens of different categories including economy (duh), infrastructure, workforce, cost of doing business, quality of life, technology, education, cost of living, etc. With all of those metrics baked, they show that Illinois is a very respectable 13th in America overall for business. Infrastructure, technology and innovation were the categories where Illinois is ranked in the top 10.

It's not all good news, though...

Here's what confuses me most about this new business ranking. Illinois is ranked #44 for economy and #38 for business friendliness. I will admit the last time I really paid attention in school was the last part of 2nd grade, but I don't understand how those two categories can be so low yet Illinois makes it into the top tier of states for doing business.

Here's the takeaway. The national narrative for Illinois is that many are departing the state for economic reasons. If nothing else, this shows that portrayal is way overblown. There are good things and bad things about every state and Illinois really gets a bad rap when in some cases it really isn't bad at all.