Report: Ind. business climate best in the Midwest, 5th in the U.S.

NDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WANE) The Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2012 study ranked Indiana as the best Midwestern state to do business. Indiana ranked fifth in overall in the U.S.

Indiana also earned the title of "most improved state" since it moved up 18 places since 2010.

"Indiana's pro-business policies and solid fiscal house continue to earn national attention as a front runner for new jobs and investment," said Dan Hasler, Secretary of Commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. "This ranking is the latest validation of this administration's focus since 2005 to make economic development efforts a top priority. Above all else, business climate matters and the pay-off for Hoosiers is new careers and opportunities."

Indiana's neighboring Midwestern states did not fare so well in the study. Kentucky ranked 28th, Ohio ranked 20th, Michigan ranked 39th and Illinois ranked 48th.

The study was co-published with the American Economic Development Institute and is the fourth ranking of this kind in which Indiana has scored a top ten national ranking.

CNBC named Indiana the fifth most business friendly state in the nation in its "America's Top States for Business" report. Indiana's business environment also scored a top five finish nationally in Chief Executive magazine's "Best & Worst States" survey of more than 500 chief executives released in May.

The Pollina study is in its ninth year. It takes 32 factors, all controlled by state government, into account in compiling the list such as, taxes, human resources, education, right-to-work legislation, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers compensation laws, economic incentive programs and state economic development efforts.

Click here to the see Pollina Corporate's complete report.