July 10, 2026
Oregon continues to slide in CNBC’s widely followed America’s Top States for Business rankings, which were released July 9. The state fell three spots to 42nd in 2026, one year after plummeting 11 places to 39th. Oregon has now dropped 25 places since 2017, when it was ranked 17th. Oregon’s 2026 ranking is its lowest in the 20-year history of the index and marks the state’s first appearance among the nation’s bottom 10.
“CNBC’s ranking is one of many pieces of economic information OBI tracks, and no single index or data point tells the whole story about Oregon’s competitiveness,” said Angela Wilhelms, president and CEO of Oregon Business & Industry. “Unfortunately, all of the most meaningful measures are saying the same thing: Oregon is experiencing an economic crisis. Our economy grew at half the national rate last year, our job creation numbers are among the nation’s worst, our unemployment rate is well above the national average, and our population has stagnated. To turn this around, Oregon needs focused leadership, and policymakers need to take action to improve our business environment.”
Gov. Kotek included improvement in multiple CNBC rankings in Oregon’s Prosperity Roadmap, an economic growth agenda released in December 2025.
In addition to assigning overall rankings, CNBC ranks states in 10 areas: infrastructure, economy, workforce, quality of life, cost of doing business, technology & innovation, business friendliness, access to capital, education and cost of living. Ironically, Oregon’s overall ranking dropped this year despite a change in methodology that increased the weighting of the category in which the state performed best, infrastructure (17th). Infrastructure was this year’s most heavily weighted category.
Oregon ranked among the nation’s top 20 states in only one other category, technology & innovation (18th) while ranking among the bottom 10 in three: cost of doing business (43rd), business friendliness (43rd) and cost of living (45th).
“While this year’s CNBC rankings are discouraging, policymakers should respond with determination rather than despair,” said Wilhelms. “Oregon was among the nation’s top performing states by many measures not that long ago. We can perform that well again and create the kinds of opportunities that attract talented people and business investment. To get there, though, Oregon needs to address the policies that have made this state uncompetitive. That will take courage, and OBI stands ready to help.”
To learn more: See CNBC’s 2026 rankings here and read about top-ranked Ohio here. Read OBI’s Oregon Competitiveness Agenda here, its recommendations to the Governor’s Prosperity Council here. And check out OBI’s online data dashboard, the Oregon Scorecard, here.