CNBC ranks Virginia as the top state for business for the third time in five years

Fairfax County is a major part of the economic success of the Commonwealth

Fairfax County, Virginia USA, Wednesday, July 13, 2011 -

Business news TV network CNBC named Virginia as America's "Top State for Business" for the third time in five years. The Commonwealth received the highest point total in the history of the rankings and finished in the top half of every category ranked.

CNBC uses publicly available data and assigns points to each state based on 43 measures of competitiveness in 10 categories: cost of doing business, workforce, quality of life, economy, infrastructure and transportation, technology and innovation, education, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living. Click here for more information on the rankings, and click here for a montage of nationwide news coverage about the 2011 CNBC rankings.

Fairfax County and its business community are a major component of the state’s economic success story:

• Fairfax County is home to 13.5 percent of Virginia residents (2010 census) but 16.3 percent of the jobs in the state (fourth quarter 2010).
• Fairfax County is home of eight Fortune 500 companies, 40 percent of Virginia’s total of 20.
• Fairfax County is home to 26 companies on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies, 54 percent of the state’s total of 48.
• Fairfax County has 40.9 percent of the professional, scientific and technical services jobs in Virginia and 27 percent of the state’s establishments in these fields (fourth quarter 2010).
• Fairfax County has 35 percent of all the office space in Virginia, the largest concentration in the state.
• Fairfax County has the fourth-lowest unemployment rate (4.3 percent in May 2011) in the Commonwealth.

“Virginia’s consistent and hard-earned reputation as a great place to do business is one of several factors that have helped Fairfax County be one of the world’s best business locations. We are proud of the role that Fairfax County has played in helping the Commonwealth earn that reputation by being one of the top places for businesses of all sizes, backgrounds and industry sectors,” said Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA).