By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Gov. Pritzker is touting a new CNBC business ranking – America’s Top States for Business – that puts Illinois at 13th-best for business in 2025. The media company’s findings run in total contrast with the reality Illinoisans and businesses have to live under day in and day out.
- The nation’s highest property taxes
- The nation’s worst credit rating
- The nation’s 3rd-worst population growth
- The nation’s 5th-worst job creation
- The most pension debts in the country
- The nation’s second-highest gas taxes
- The 3rd-highest corporate income tax
Add up all that fiscal and economic mismanagement and Illinois’ true business picture reveals itself. A Wirepoints analysis of Census data shows Illinois has ranked 47th in economic growth and 46th in job creation since Pritzker took office. Illinois’ faltering economy and its absolute failure to create jobs reveal the true business environment.
So how did Illinois end up so good in CNBC’s ranking? Well, the network includes a bunch of things in their index that – while undeniably important – dilute the impact of Illinois’ true jobs and economic growth record.
Like infrastructure. Illinois is going to rank great in that by the virtue of its location and its historical rail and transportation infrastructure. Put that in the index, give it a heavy weighting, and Illinois’ overall ranking jumps. Illinois ranked 8th in infrastructure nationally.
And education, where CNBC ranks Illinois as 3rd-best in the nation (great universities). Or access to capital (5th-place ranking). And Tech and Innovation, 6th.
No surprise to Chicago’s high rating in those sectors as it’s still the nation’s 3rd-largest city and remains a financial hub.
CNBC gives many such categories a significant weight in its index, meaning Illinois’ actual economy – jobs and growth – ends up counting for less than it should.
The problem is Illinois’ strengths have been sapped by poor policies. High taxes, too much debt, overwhelming union powers and overregulation prevent Illinois from being the economic powerhouse it should be.
It’s why Illinois ranks so poorly in the categories that businesses really care about: economy, 44th; business friendliness, 38th; and cost of living, 34th.
Warren Buffett himself told CNBC that he wouldn’t relocate a business to a state like Illinois because of issues like the state’s pension debt: “In the public sector, you know, it’s a disaster…If I were relocating into some state that had a huge unfunded pension plan, I’m walking into liabilities…And those are big numbers, really big numbers…And when you see what they would have to do – I say to myself, “Why do I wanna build a plant that has to sit there for 30 or 40 years?”
Until Illinois improves in those areas, Illinois’ jobs and growth – what really affects everyday Illinoisans – will continue to lag the rest of the country.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Illinois politicians killed school choice. Now the federal government could deliver it anyway.
- New Illinois law makes it tougher for voters to block school district borrowings/tax hikes. Effingham good example.
- Why Gov. Pritzker Should Veto Chicago Tier 2 Pension Sweeteners
- Why do we pay nearly $100K in salary for each Illinois lawmaker?
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Hmm, it would be hard for JB to hide behind anything.
Why does anyone believe fake news CNBC. here.
Why would anyone want to do business in a state with:
— the highest property taxes in the US
— high gas prices
— hostile business regulation
— terrible failing schools
— corrupt government
— union control of all levers of government
— a population collapse
— high crime
Why is it that whenever I read or hear of an auto company looking to build a new factory in this country, it is never in Illinois?
Rivian EV manufacturer came to Bloomington with a massive taxpayer handout.
Has any major business moved to Illinois recently without a massive taxpayer handout?
and now they are off to Georgia….
Media can be purchased and is mostly wholly owned by the Democrat Party. Certainly JB paid the shills at CNBC to cheer for Illinois on behalf of the Pritzker for President 2028 campaign. Expect more of JB’s billions between now and November 2028 to result in such media propaganda.
How do more credible reports rank Illinois for business climate?
CNBCs ranking of Il takes all there credibility away. If your look for honest business reporting , don’t watch CNBC. They were bought by the left.
Governor WIDE-LOAD can’t hide behind a barn
So great infrastructure, great universities, great access to capital, tech and innovation. It’s also a top financial hub. Those things probably matter more to many business than Joe Sixpack’s property tax bill. Now Pritzker is obviously not responsible for those things as it’s biggest asset is it’s location but it should also remind people that your everyday complaints may not always be the primary concern for business climate.
So when you ask yourself, why would businesses remain in Illinois, remember that it also has many of the positives listed in the rankings.
Sorry but your “analysis” is a non sequitur. It’s not about Joe Sixpack’s property bill, it’s about the commercial real estate tax bill, it’s about the workman’s comp insurance premiums,and the other costs of “doing business” in Illinois. Chicago was a top financial hub, not so much any more. It used to be the home of top money center banks but the highest a Chicago bank is on the list is 15. It still has the largest futures exchange and the largest option exchange in the world, I’ll give you that but the number of people employed at each one… Read more »
My “analysis” was merely pointing out that Illinois and Chicago also have positive attributes and businesses that stay here have decided that those positives outweigh the negatives. This is only a non-sequitur among those who only want to complain and focus on the negative and completely ignore the positives. I didn’t draw a conclusion that things mentioned in the article don’t matter. Instead, I was trying to point out that not every business that is located in Illinois is focused on the things that many here stress.
Unless you are a Public Sector Union parasitic thief there is no reason to stay in Illinois. Eventually the rest of the host will be gone and all that will be left are the ticks, maggots and vampires.
There are not many financial institutions around anymore. Chicago used to have many regional banks – but many were bought and are in the Southeast. Ken Griffin and his billions? Also gone. Which is where we should probably all be anyway.
There are plenty of places in this country with less taxes, same access to “capital” and certainly the same or better universities. There is not much to draw people to Chicago when you factor in crime, sanctuary city status, public education failures and incompetence of state and local government.
Certainly, there are some positives of living in the Chicago area, but the magnitude of the negatives are tough to handle. One positive I like is the abundance of safe drinking water. I also like being very close to shopping, health care, restaurants, and entertainment, but I guess you can get most or all of that living in many major metro areas. Finally, I like not having to worry about hurricanes, floods, or wildfires, and, knock on wood, tornadoes no stronger than EF-1s.
Do CNBC and Pritzker think public union members lead business and make decisions on where to locate the business? We haven’t descended to that point yet, but it’s not for lack of effort.
I’m going to throw the Red BS Flag: Education and Cost of Business in the top 5 and top 20? Uh, that defies reality. Who did this survey, a HS intern using ChatGP?
Add a few more:
-Extraordinarily expensive Workers’ Compensation system
-Very expensive health insurance, especially for small business
-Rampant crime
-Overarching governmental regulation from the 6,930 governmental “bodies” in Illinois
-Wage and hour rules in Chicago that exceed state and national standards
This “analysis” certainly helps Pritzker to whistle past the graveyard. Listen to Warren Buffet’s response to this and you’ll really wonder about the bias built into this.
It’s CNBC, that should say everything.