South Carolina ranks 11th among entrepreneur-friendly states

South Carolina is one of the most entrepreneur-friendly states in the country, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

The council released its annual rankings of the states according to their public policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship in the “Small Business Survival Index 2006.” South Carolina ranked 11th.

“In politics, talk is cheap, and everybody talks about how much they love small business,” said SBE Council chief economist Raymond J. Keating, author of the study. “The ‘Small Business Survival Index 2006’ moves past the rhetoric to actually rank the states according to the policies implemented in terms of taxes, regulation, spending and other governmental costs affecting the entrepreneurial sector of our economy.”

The council claims that economic common sense and a large body of economic literature show policies matter to entrepreneurs, businesses, employees and, therefore, to the overall economic well-being of each state.

The index analyzes 29 major government-imposed or government-related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. These measures are added together to compute an overall rating.

The friendliest state for entrepreneurship was South Dakota. The least friendly state was New Jersey as well as the District of Columbia.