Throughout the state’s history, Illinois has continually been a leader in the Midwest in both innovation, tourism as well as a health business economy and network.
CNBC recently release its 2025 Top States for Business rankings, with Illinois earning the 13th best state for business! In exciting news, this jump now makes it Illinois’ highest position ever and a significant rise from 30th place in 2019.
What makes Illinois a stand out leader? Most would list agriculture and innovation but there is plenty more that Illinois has climbed in the ranks according to other key categories CNBC tracks, namely:
- Illinois is #3 for education (up one spot from 2024)
- Illinois is in the Top 20 rankings for the workforce #19 (up 18 spots from 2024) and cost of business #19 (up 13 spots from 2024) categories
- Illinois is in the top 10 rankings for the infrastructure (#8), technology and innovation (#6), and access to capital (#5) categories
With these incredibly ratings, Illinois has certainly marked itself as an economic leader for businesses, educational opportunities, innovation and most importantly solidifying its position as a global economic powerhouse.
Since 2019, Illinois has gone up nine credit grades, created more than 11,000 newly funded preschool seats in the last two years alone and invested millions in the technology, digital and quantum industries.
Illinois continues to improve as one of the hardest working states in the nation. With the rise of business and innovation incentives, many are making their way to Illinois to make meaningful and new opportunities and ventures blossom.
In addition to CNBC’s rankings, earlier this month, Site Selection Magazine named Cook County (#5) and Lake County (#10) among the Top 10 Best Counties in America for economic development as well!
