RICHMOND — Virginia jumped a spot to No. 3 in this year’s CNBC rankings of the Top States for Business, and the financial news network said the Old Dominion might have ranked higher except that its economy is still suffering from President Donald Trump’s DOGE cuts a year ago.
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Ohio surged to the top of the annual list, which politicians love to either cite or dismiss based on their state’s performance, while North Carolina slipped to No. 2 after reaching the top spot last year.
Virginia was rated especially high in the categories of infrastructure (2) and education (5) but saw its economy drop nine spots to 23 because of “federal budget and personnel cuts” from last year’s DOGE campaign, CNBC said. Maryland, also heavily dependent on the federal government, fell to 36th overall as its economic rank plummeted to 49th for some of the same reasons.
DOGE’s “chainsawing attack on public servants” has put families out of work and dampened consumer spending, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) said in an interview. Countering that requires “a long-term rebuild.”
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She declined to mention her Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin, by name, but said she was proud of bettering his outgoing No. 4 ranking. “I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone,” she said.
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