Ohio is CNBC’s Top State for Business

Ohio ranked #1 in CNBC's 2026 Top States for Business because it scored at or near the top across the categories companies weigh most heavily — infrastructure, cost of doing business, workforce, and business friendliness. The data is empirical, and it gives businesses an honest portrait of which states are going to the greatest lengths to foster growth.

JobsOhio was created in 2011 to help Ohio compete at the speed of business, and the categories where Ohio scored highest are the ones we've invested in for over a decade. But the ranking belongs to Team Ohio — the Governor's Office, the Ohio Department of Development, the General Assembly, our regional network, and local communities across the state.

Companies consistently tell us they value certainty. They know Ohio can move quickly, solve problems, prepare sites, develop talent, and support long-term growth. That level of coordination is difficult to replicate.

It confirms what companies have been telling us for years — that Ohio has become one of the best places in America to invest, manufacture, innovate, and build a future. 

Infrastructure is where Ohio's decades of investment show up most clearly. The state sits at the crossroads of the nation's freight network — interstate highways, Class I rail, ports on both Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and cargo-capable airports — so goods leave Ohio by whatever mode the shipment calls for. Add power generation that can absorb energy-intensive operations and broadband reaching into rural counties, and infrastructure stops being a limit on where a company can locate. CNBC's infrastructure category weighs road and bridge condition, port and airport access, power reliability, and broadband availability. Ohio ranked first.

A business expansion in Ohio moves faster because the pieces are already in place. Sites are graded, zoned, and utility-ready. Infrastructure is ranked #1 nationally. Incentives are privately funded, so JobsOhio can commit to your timeline. Companies including Intel, Amgen, Anduril, and Joby Aviation chose Ohio for exactly those reasons.

Redundancy. Most states are strong in one mode. Ohio gives you eight interstate routes, four Class I railroads, ports on both Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and 13 intermodal terminals — second-most in the country — all in the same footprint. More than 60% of the U.S. and Canadian population is a day's drive away. So when one route or one utility gets tight, the backup is usually still in Ohio.

You get to help build it. Ohio's 200-plus colleges, universities, and career centers train to what employers actually need, and JobsOhio's Talent Acquisition Services stays with a company for 18 to 24 months — recruiting, pre-screening, and training for the specific roles you're filling. L3Harris just used it to add 50 jobs in Cincinnati.

A lot of the homework is already done. To earn SiteOhio authentication, a site has to have water, sewer, electric, gas, and fiber to the property with capacity confirmed, its due diligence studies finished, and sign-off from the reviewers who usually slow things down — the Army Corps, the State Historic Preservation Office, Fish and Wildlife. It's also been checked for what's happening on the properties around it. That's most of a site search, closed out before you show up.