(Updated, Oct.4, 4 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranks 19th among states for entrepreneurship, according to an index released Oct. 2 by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Taking the top spot in the annual state-by-state assessment of entrepreneurial activity was Massachusetts, followed by North Dakota, California, New York and Minnesota.
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The index is developed by economists at the university’s Bureau of Business Research and department of economics by measuring a state’s percentage growth and per capita growth of business establishments, its business formation rate, the number of patents per thousand residents, and income per non-farm proprietor in each state.
“This year [the best] states tend to be clustered in the Northeast and the upper Midwest,” said Eric Thompson, a UNL associate professor of economics and director of the bureau, in a statement.
The index uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Statistical Abstract.
Massachusetts garnered a 3.01 score, maintaining its 2010 No. 1 ranking. Rhode Island scored 1.191. The Ocean State also ranked 19th in 2010.
The worst states for entrepreneurs, according to the index, are Louisiana with a score of 0.03 and Michigan, with a score of 0.10.
