Business and political leaders cheered when CNBC named North Carolina “America’s Top State for Business in 2025.”

But look deeper, and there’s less to cheer.

The network looked at 10 factors in ranking states. One was “Quality of Life.”

Where does North Carolina rank among the states on that?

We’re 29th.

CNBC says “Quality of Life” includes “livability factors like per capita crime rates, environmental quality, and health care.”

Also, “availability of childcare … worker protections including livable wage policies, paid leave, and rights to organize; …inclusiveness in state laws, including protections against discrimination of all kinds, as well as voting rights and secure election systems.”

And, “with surveys showing a sizeable percentage of younger workers would not live in a state that bans abortion, we factor reproductive rights in this category as well.”

CNBC’s overall ranking used a complex formula that weighed the 10 factors in this order of importance: economy, infrastructure, workforce, cost of doing business, business friendliness, quality of life, technology & innovation, education, access to capital and cost of living.

In other words, CNBC considered “cost of doing business” and “business friendliness” more important than quality of life.

CNBC said, “While no state is more politically divided than deep purple North Carolina, both parties seem to agree on the importance of keeping business happy.”

Maybe we should put more importance on keeping people happy.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/how-we-are-choosing-americas-top-states-for-business-in-2025.html