After being named the top state for business in 2025 North Carolina dropped one spot in CNBC’s annual report on Top States for Business, falling behind Ohio.

Despite dropping one spot, this is the sixth consecutive year North Carolina has ranked in the top two. North Carolina occupied the top spot in 2022, 2023, and 2025 and finished second behind Virginia in 2021 and 2024.

In CNBC’s coverage of Ohio gaining the top overall spot they share the most heavily weighted category in their methodology this year was Infrastructure, where Ohio ranked first overall and North Carolina dropped from 11th in 2025 to 13th in 2026.

A breakdown of North Carolina’s rankings in each category used in the methodology can be found here, with North Carolina at or near the top in several categories such as Economy, Workforce, Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness, and Access to Capital.