Louisiana ranked as the sixth best state for entrepreneurship in a new State Entrepreneurship Index developed by economists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The study combines five key components — a state’s percentage growth and per capita growth in business establishments, its business formation rate, the number of patents per thousand residents and gross receipts of sole proprietorships and partnerships per capita — to build its state-by-state rankings.
For 2010, the latest year for figures, Louisiana’s index score was 1.61—moving up ten spots from 16 in 2008 (the last time it was conducted). The top state was New York (2.33), followed by Washington (2.17), Massachusetts (2.04), New Jersey and Oregon (both at 1.93) rounding out the top 5.
Louisiana beat out its neighboring states in the index, besting Texas (9), Arkansas (36), and Mississippi (48). Moving the opposite direction, Nevada (0.33) dropped 40 spots to end up at 47. Joining it in the bottom five were: Alabama (0.41); Mississippi (0.32); Arizona (0.11); and, South Carolina (0.07).
Tell us what you think: what can Louisiana do to improve its ranking for next year?
