There are many factors to consider when determining where to locate (or relocate) your company. On top of personal preferences and where you may be rooted by family and friends, there are many factors that directly impact your business in any area. The labor force, financial incentives from the government, support from local officials, the competitiveness of the business environment, distance to suppliers and distributors, and access to transportation all make big differences for small businesses.

Because many of these are hard to quantify, it can be helpful to look at the ones that are a little more measurable. Tax rates for small business can dictate the success of many of them, so they are definitely worth taking a look at.
Below are the rankings for the Tax Foundation Index (as reported by Business Week), which roughly measures which states have the lowest tax rates for small businesses, a good reference for any small business owner deciding on the location of their company.
Tax Foundation Rank
- Wyoming
- South Dakota
- Nevada
- Alaska
- Florida
- Montana
- Texas
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
- Delaware
- Utah
- Washington
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Virginia
- Missouri
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
- Mississippi
- Michigan