Alaska’s Business Climate Continues to Suffer, Ranked 44th out of 50 States

Photo Credit: Kiskadee 3According to an annual scoring based upon inputs from the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness, Alaska is ranked seventh from the bottom for competitiveness.

The categories and point values for the scoring this year are:

Cost of Doing Business (450 points)
Economy (375 points)
Infrastructure (350 points)
Workforce (300 points)
Quality of Life (300 points)
Technology & Innovation (300 points)
Business Friendliness (200 points)
Education (150 points)
Cost of Living (50 points)
Access to Capital (25 points)

Alaska received a total score of 1140. The top state, South Dakota, received a score of 1639, while the worst state, Hawaii, scored 924.

From its ranking in 2012, Alaska slipped in the following categories: workforce, quality of life, infrastructure and transportation, economy, and education. It remained the same, 50th in the nation, in technology and innovation. Alaska also retained the same score from 2012 to 2013 in cost of living (49th).

Alaska’s biggest decline was in economy, moving from fourth in the nation in 2012 to 23rd in the nation this year.

Alaska did see improvement in cost of doing business, business friendliness, and access to capital, leading to an overall increase from 47th in nation in 2012 to 44th in nation this year.