Virginia is back as America's Top State for Business in 2021

A year of pandemic and social reckoning have changed the nation in countless ways. But one thing has stayed the same: America's Top State for Business is Virginia.

The Old Dominion captures top honors in CNBC's 2021 competitiveness rankings, just as it did in the previous study published in 2019. It is Virginia's fifth win since the study began in 2007, more than any other state. And it is the first state to post back-to-back victories (CNBC did not publish rankings in 2020 due to the pandemic).

Virginia pulls off the repeat performance despite a vastly altered competitive landscape, a testament to the resilience of the state's business climate.

"We've seen a remarkable V-shaped recovery from Covid," said Stephen Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Port of Virginia, a major economic engine in the state, which is in the middle of a ten-year, $1.5 billion expansion. "May 2021 was an all-time record for the port, 56% bigger than we were last year, and significantly above 2019."

Both going into the pandemic and coming out of it, Virginia's greatest strength has been its ability to nurture and retain talent. Public schools perform well in terms of test scores, and a world-class higher education system is reliably funded.

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