Small Business Survival Index 2005

The brand new, revised and expanded, Small Business Survival Index has been released. Of course I have delved into the numbers to determine if there is any slight correlation between state legislature control and ranking on the index.

1 South Dakota 24.280	Republican	1	R	1
2 Nevada 27.080	Republican	2	S	1
3 Wyoming 33.360	Democrat	1	R	2
4 Washington 37.430	Democrat	2	D	1
5 Michigan 37.490	Democrat	3	R	3
6 Florida 38.525	Republican	3	R	4
7 Mississippi 38.970	Republican	4	D	2
8 Alabama 39.465	Republican	5	D	3
9 Indiana 40.140	Republican	6	R	5
10 Colorado 41.190	Republican	7	D	4
11 Texas 41.210	Republican	8	R	6
12 South Carolina 41.790	Republican	9	R	7
13 Virginia 41.885	Democrat	4	R	8
14 Pennsylvania 42.261	Democrat	5	R	9
15 Tennessee 43.090	Democrat	6	S	2
16 Arkansas 43.832	Republican	10	D	5
17 Arizona 44.238	Democrat	7	R	10
18 Missouri 44.976	Republican	11	R	11
19 Idaho 45.020	Republican	12	R	12
20 New Hampshire 45.030	Democrat	8	R	13
21 Alaska 45.140	Republican	13	R	14
22 Georgia 45.555	Republican	14	R	15
23 Illinois 45.730	Democrat	9	D	6
24 Delaware 45.830	Democrat	10	S	3
25 Maryland 46.445	Republican	15	D	7
Governors		15R	10D
State Legs		15R	7D	3S

While this may not be terribly conclusive, it does give a good idea as to the relative friendliness of Republican-controlled states to entrepreneurs. As you can see, 14 of the top 22 states are controlled by Republican Governors and 15 of 22 by Republican state legislatures. More alarming is the fact that 21 of the top 25 states on the list are controlled by either a Republican Governor or state legislature.

This all stems from quality, pro-business legislation coming from the respective state capitols. I commend the few Democratic states on this list for maintaining a pro-business atmosphere in your states, but alas they can't have all the conservative principles that would make their states even greater. If I had more time, I would try to cross-reference these numbers with other statistics, such as crime. This would give a better idea of how Republican control has an effect on a state's quality of life for its citizens.

Nevertheless, it's refreshing to see so many Republican-controlled state governments keeping small businesses from going under without the use of handouts and preferences. It just goes to show that it is indeed possible to let the market work with great results.