North Carolina Is USA's Top State for Business in 2025

North Carolina’s vibrant economy, world-class workforce, and Southern corporate hospitality have landed it as the best state in the country for businesses in 2025, according to CNBC rankings.

“North Carolina offers the ideal combination of talent, infrastructure, and forward-thinking leadership to support our mission to reshape aviation,” said Tom O’Leary, CEO and co-founder of JetZero, a manufacturer of fuel-efficient airplanes, which announced last month it will build its first factory, in Greensboro, to be supported by 14,500 jobs.

Also last month, Amazon committed $10 billion for data centers in North Carolina, on top of the $12 billion the online retail giant has already invested in North Carolina since 2010.

“The latest expansion is a testament to the state’s thriving business ecosystem and talented workforce,” Amazon said in a statement.

On Thursday, UNC Health and Duke Health announced they are jointly building North Carolina’s first standalone children’s hospital in Apex, outside Raleigh. It will bring an estimated 8,000 jobs to the Research Triangle region, which also includes Durham and Chapel Hill.

Gov. Josh Stein, in his state of the state address in March, said, “In recent years, we’ve recruited businesses that have created tens of thousands of jobs across the state. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Other states want what we have here — it’s a competitive world.”

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In an interview with CNBC Thursday, Stein said that since he was sworn in, in January, the state has announced more than $20 billion of new investments and 23,000 jobs.

North Carolina Senate President Phil Berger echoed those sentiments in a local interview in March: “My priority, and I think the priority of Senate Republicans, will be to continue those policies that have provided that kind of environment that has made North Carolina attractive to private sector businesses. Those sorts of things don’t happen by accident. That kind of growth doesn’t happen just by happenstance.”

North Carolina offers businesses the lowest corporate income tax in the nation, of 2.25%. It also has a highly educated, well-rounded workforce and makes the cut for CNBC’s top tier for science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, workers. North Carolina can also boast its fair share of motivated vocational workers.

One drawback for the Tar Heel State, however, is it is still in the early stages of recovering from last September’s Hurricane Helene, which caused $60 billion in damages and killed 100 people.

Further, North Carolina is vulnerable to Trump’s tariffs, as 20% of the state’s gross domestic product in 2024 came from international trade in goods, according to Trade Partnership Worldwide.

CNBC’s other top five states for business in 2025 are, in order: runner-up Texas, Florida, Virginia and Ohio.