[This just in from: http://www.heartlandpartnership.org/content/illinois-rises-top-state-business-ranking]

Illinois rises in CNBC’s Top States for Business 2011 ranking despite the negative news about the business climate. Illinois ranks 22nd in “CNBC’s Top States for Business”, which is up from a ranking of 30 in 2010. CNBC scored all 50 states on 43 measures of competitiveness developed with input from business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness. States received points based on their rankings in each metric. Then, the scores were separated into ten broad categories, weighting the categories based on how frequently they are cited in state economic development marketing materials (therefore, the study ranks the states based on the criteria they use to sell themselves).

Here’s how Illinois scored in each of the 10 categories:

Rank category
24 – Cost of Doing Business
45 – Workforce
28 – Quality of Life
32 – Economy
6 – Transportation & Infrastructure
6 – Technology & Innovation
29 – Education
36 – Business Friendliness
5 – Access to Capital
20 – Cost of Living

Virginia is back on top, knocking Texas out of the top spot and capturing first-place honors for the third time in five years. The top five states were (1) Virginia, (2) Texas, (3) North Carolina, (4) Georgia and (5) Colorado. The bottom five on the list were (50) Rhode Island, (49) Alaska, (48) Hawaii, (47) Mississippi and (46) West Virginia.