Roper: WalletHub ranks Vermont 4th worst state to start a business

By Rob Roper

The personal finance website WalletHub just published an analysis of the best and worst states to start business. As the site points out, 1 in 5 new businesses fail within the first year, and half don’t make it to five years. Therefore, picking the right location is key. Vermont, they conclude, ranks 47th out of 50 when deciding where to set up shop. Not good.

WalletHub looked at 25 metrics under three umbrella categories: Business Environment, Access to Resources, and Cost. Overall, Vermont scored 46, 49 and 27, respectively. In the subcategories, Vermont stood out in Lowest Average Growth in Number of Small Businesses (49th), Shortest Average work week (45th), and Highest Total Spending on Incentives as percentage of GDP (third). If that last statistic is correct, it is evidence that targeted incentives to attract businesses is not a good strategy for Vermont.

As we’ve said before, you can take these types of rankings with a grain of salt, but they do have an impact on public opinion — especially when time after time, in ranking after ranking Vermont lands in the bottom five or 10 places for taxes, or business, or to retire, etc. At some point you have to start face the reality that it’s not the survey, it’s you.

The one silver lining in all of this: New Hampshire scored 49th. Yes, we finally did better than New Hampshire in one of these rankings! In your face, New Hampshire! I guess we can all thank God for Hawaii.

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Public domain

4 thoughts on “Roper: WalletHub ranks Vermont 4th worst state to start a business

  1. If the category is negative, Vermont is always front and center. Unfortunately when it’s positive, Vermont falls off the radar screen. Some how the folks in Montpelier just don’t get it. They are so wrapped up in preserving their precious state that they lose site of the forest and spend al their time focusing on one tree. The $10,000 boondoggle is a classic example of just how out of touch they are.

  2. Disgraceful! But not at all surprising. After 36 years of running a small business that straddled the borders of VT & NH I would be hard pressed to advise anyone to open a business in either state. I never wanted, or asked for, anything from either state other than to get the hell out of my way and let me grow my business. I have on many occasions told people that I would rather deal with the IRS than the bureaucrats in Montpelier and Concord. There isn’t much that they could do to make things more difficult or painful for any entrepreneur.

  3. Our Governor and his band of ” Nit-Wits ” in the Legislator cannot understand why
    Vermonter’s are leaving the State in droves !!

    I bet the $10K bribe from the Governor is doing wonders……………We Deserve Better.

  4. “….thank God…”

    Are you still allowed to do that in Vermont? If so, the nanny state (VT) will take care of that.

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