© 2024 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KUNR’s spring fund drive is happening now, and your gift to the station will go twice as far with a matching pledge from the KUNR Advisory Board!

Now is the time to act –
click here to make a gift to KUNR today or increase your sustaining membership and have it matched.

Nevada gets a B+ in business friendliness survey

Nevada is one of the top 15 most business friendly states. That’s according to a recently released national survey.

So the good news is that overall small business owners consider Nevada a business friendly place. That’s based on the annual survey done by Thumbtack.com, an online marketplace that links consumers to professional services.

Jon Lieber is an economist who worked on the survey.

“So Nevada did pretty well. It’s been consistently towards the top of the range. This year it earned a B+ for overall friendliness. It did really well for ease of hiring and did really with its tax code, which also earned an A+.”

Lieber says the overall friendliness grade of a B+ was based on three key factors.

“The first is: how helpful to do you find your state government to be? The second is: how easy is it to start a new business? And, would you encourage somebody else to start a business in this state?”

For the last two years, Nevada has ranked in the top 15 of nearly 40 states.

The report looks at 11 categories, including licensing regulations, tax codes, and the ease of starting a small business. Nevada received six grades in the A range and only one C grade, which was for health and safety regulations. Licensing received a higher grade of B-, and Lieber says that needs to get better if the state wants to attract more small businesses.

“Looking over the years, it looks like licensing has been a consistent problem so I think that would be the number one thing I would focus on if I were a lawmaker in Nevada.”

Lieber says that poor grade probably comes from inadequate enforcement of regulations.

Will Stone is a former reporter at KUNR Public Radio.
Anh Gray is a former contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio.