Florida Ranked 17th in 2025 Top States for Business

Area Development’s 2025 Top States for Business report just dropped, and Florida’s standing strong, but it’s not exactly leading the pack. Georgia, as usual, holds onto the top spot for the twelfth year running.

The interesting twist: Even though CNBC has Florida sitting at #3 for business, it still hasn’t broken into Area Development’s top five in the eighteen years they’ve been doing these rankings. The South, as always, dominates—South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio complete the top five this year. Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana have also been regulars in these upper tiers.

What’s shifting in site selection? It’s not just about handing out tax breaks anymore. The report puts a premium on speed, workforce fit, and, crucially, energy—both availability and cost. They even split those last two up this year because energy reliability and price have become major issues for big operations.

Water access, permitting speed, and site readiness are also viewed as non-negotiable now. Companies don’t want to be slowed down by sluggish approvals or sites that aren’t truly ready for investment.

Florida performed well in a few key areas: fourth for corporate tax structure, eighth for overall business costs, and ninth for water availability. Beyond that, it’s competitive but not leading in metrics like access to qualified labor, property taxes, climate risk, regulatory environment, logistics, site readiness, and workforce training. Looking at the CNBC rankings, Florida trails just behind North Carolina and Texas. The state led nationally for economic performance, ranked second in workforce, and third in access to capital. But infrastructure came in at #16, cost of doing business at #22, and business friendliness at #23—a mixed performance, to say the least.

The bottom line is Florida’s a contender with clear strengths, but there’s still ground to cover before it can claim “top state for business” status.