South Dakota is laser focused on being the middle of the pack in the race to be the best place in the country to start a business, according to the WalletHub website:
According to the study, conducted in December of 2025:
In order to determine the best and worst states to start a business, WalletHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Business Environment, 2) Access to Resources and 3) Business Costs.
We evaluated those dimensions using 25 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for new-business creation.
Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
Comparatively, that’s down from 24th according to the same study in 2024.
Now, Forbes magazine liked South Dakota better than WalletHub in 2024, ranking the state 4th at the time. But many would argue that our economic star isn’t as bright and shiny as it used to be.
And we might need to work at it a bit harder than we had to do during COVID, when freedom was more attractive than worrying about whether you had a WalMart within 50 miles.
Perfect. Right in the meaty part of the curve. Freedom.
Don’t worry…far right loons will do their best to get us to 50th
Yup, the Hansen/Lems cartel will work hard to drop us down.