Want to start your business? Don’t do it in New Jersey

Looking to start a business? Don't do it in New Jersey. The Garden State is the worst state to get a new business up and running, according to WalletHub's 2021's Best & Worst States to Start a Business."  

To determine the fertile grounds for planting and growing new ventures, analyst Jill Gonzalez said the personal-finance website compared all 50 states across 28 key indicators of startup success. That includes business costs, the overall business environment and access to resources.

Starting a business is never easy and that was made even worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gonzalez said. It resulted in 200,000 more business closures than usual.

In New Jersey it has been even tougher to start a business which is why it ranks dead last (#50) on WalletHub's list. Business costs in New Jersey are some of the highest in the country when looking at office space affordability. Labor costs in the state are the highest in the U.S., which means salaries are high.

Not only are labor costs, cost of living and office space affordability expensive, so are New Jersey's taxes.

On top of all this, the five-year business survival rate in New Jersey is one of the worst across the country.

However, there was a bit of a silver lining for the Garden State in this report. Gonzalez said it did better when it came to access to financing resources. There are great higher-education assets in schools in New Jersey.

"It's just making sure that people stay there when they actually want to start a business," Gonzalez said.

Texas is the best state to start a business. Georgia is second followed by California, Florida and Idaho. While New Jersey is the worst state to start a business, Connecticut is second worst followed by Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming. Neighbors New York ranked 22nd on the list and Pennsylvania is number 43.