By Mikal E. Belicove|For Entrepreneur.com|May 10, 2012

How business friendly is the place you’ve set up shop? A new report rates the business climate of states and counties across the U.S., based on a survey of business owners.

The report, from 2012 Thumbtack.com Small Business Survey, presented in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, offers a roadmap — quite literally — of the friendliest places to conduct business in the U.S., on a website that enables visitors to check the business climate “score” of any county in any state.

For instance, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah all earned A+ scores in rankings for states most friendly to small businesses. On the bottom end of the report card are California, Hawaii, Vermont and Rhode Island. Each received failing grades.

The survey asked about tax rates, simplified licensing regulations, zoning laws, environmental constraints, and established training and networking programs.

Having recently attended a conference in Greenville, S.C., I was most interested to see how the northern area of the Palmetto State fared. I’d witnessed first-hand how this TechStars/Global Accelerator Network-city caters to start-ups and small businesses.

I wasn’t surprised to see “Upstate” South Carolina receive a…

Continue reading Rating the Best — and Worst — States to Do Business