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Bottom 10 State: Oklahoma drops in latest CNBC ranking

The downtown Oklahoma City skyline.
Gerson Repreza

Oklahoma fell into the bottom ten states in this year’s CNBC ranking of the best states for business, accounting for education, workforce and quality of life.

Oklahoma fell into the bottom ten states in this year’s CNBC ranking of the best states for business, accounting for education, workforce and quality of life.

After ranking ten categories, CNBC placed Oklahoma at No. 41 for business, dropping from the 38th spot in 2022.

Oklahoma was ranked in the bottom half nationally in six categories. Those include access to capital at 25, economy at 30, workforce at 36 and technology and innovation at 38.

One of the worst rankings was education at 48. Class sizes, test scores, education spending and colleges, universities, community colleges and career centers were taken into account. Oklahoma was only ranked above Alaska and Nevada, while Virginia took the top spot.

Oklahoma’s worst ranking was in the life, health and inclusion category at 49. Lots of different statistics and circumstances were used to account for that ranking, including the crime rates, health care policies and abortion laws. Just Texas fell behind Oklahoma at the 50th rank.

In four categories, Oklahoma ranked in the top 25: cost of doing business at 3, cost of living at 5, infrastructure at 20 and friendliness to business landing at 21.

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