Virginia rises one place to No. 3 in CNBC list

After falling to fourth place in 2025, Virginia rose to No. 3 in this year’s CNBC Top States for Business rankings announced in July. The commonwealth was ranked second in the nation for infrastructure, the most heavily weighted category in this year’s survey, which helped boost Virginia’s overall ranking.

On the negative side of the ledger, Virginia fell nine spots to No. 23 in overall economy, reflecting the lingering impact of federal spending cuts and layoffs, CNBC said. Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who took office in January, placed blame on the Trump White House for “economic uncertainty coming out of Washington, resulting in rising costs and deep cuts to our federal workforce.”

Spanberger also credited efforts over multiple Virginia gubernatorial administrations to invest in upgrades to the Port of Virginia and Interstate 81. She also noted $5 billion in new business investment announced during her first six months as governor. Under Spanberger, the state has continued funding grants for shovel-ready industrial sites and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.

While it’s early in Spanberger’s four-year term, she already faces significant challenges to Virginia’s economic health that are only partly reflected in this year’s Top States for Business rankings. Virginia could continue to see impact from federal spending cutbacks throughout the Trump presidency and beyond, and compared with other states, the commonwealth is heavily affected by what happens across the Potomac, notes CNBC correspondent Scott Cohn.

Also, Virginia’s reputation for business friendliness, burnished over the decades under Democratic and Republican governors, could be harmed by the decision to impose a power usage tax on data centers, some state observers warn.

The last-minute addition in late June of the tax, which will bring in a maximum of $600 million a year from data center developers for the next two years, was not taken into consideration by CNBC, which finished calculating its rankings in mid-June. Chris Saxman, executive director of nonpartisan business organization Virginia FREE, wrote in a June blog post that with the tax, “the real test will be whether Virginia continues to attract the next generation of private investment — not just because of what CNBC measures today, but because businesses believe the commonwealth will remain predictable tomorrow.”

For now, Virginia has much to celebrate, including billion-dollar investments by pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly & Co. and Merck, as well as two massive rocket motor manufacturing investments by Avio USA and L3Harris Technologies.