Colorado an Economic Gold Mine

For the third year in a row, Colorado received top honors in a “report card” by the nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development, which grades states for their economic performance. Colorado was the only state to earn A’s in each of three subject areas in the ninth annual report.

Four other states--Idaho, Minnesota, Montana and Oregon--made the honor roll and seven--Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming--earned honorable mentions.

States receive grades ranging from A to F and must achieve all A’s or Bs to make the honor roll. To earn honorable mentions, states are allowed one C along with two honor grades. States are graded in three categories: economic performance, shown here as PER, which measures the economic opportunities the state provides; business vitality, or VIT, which assesses the vitality of the state’s business sector, and development capacity, or CAP, which measures the state’s capacity for future growth and recovery from economic adversity. The results of the study:

State PER VIT CAP Ala. C B D Alaska B F D Ariz. C C B Ark. C F F Calif. D C B Colo. A A A Conn. B D A Del. A C A Fla. D D C Ga. C A C Hawaii A F B Ida. A A B Ill. D B A Ind. A B D Iowa A C C Kan. C C D Ky. F D D La. F C F Md. A D B Mass. C B A Me. D D D Mich. C B C Minn. B A A Miss. D A F Mo. D C C Mont. B B B Neb. A C C Nev. B A D N.C. C D C N.D. C F C N.H. C C C N.J. C C A N.M. D C D N.Y. D C C Ohio C C B Okla. F B F Ore. B B A Pa. C A B R.I. C D C S.C. D B D S.D. B C D Tenn. B A C Tex. D A C Utah A C A Vt. C F C Va. A C B Wash. D B A Wis. A D B W.Va. F D F Wyo. B A C

Source: Associated Press