>>CEOs have become pretty set in their perceptions of the business climate in many states, especially those on the east and west coasts. But there’s still lots of movement in what company chiefs see as the business-friendliness of many other states, and CEOs’ conclusions are being driven by new factors ranging from the rise of AI to relative housing costs.

Those are some of the main takeaways from our 2024 Chief Executive Best & Worst States for Business survey of more than 600 American CEOs, with representation from every state, to gain their perspectives on state business climates and how they have changed — or not.

Texas once again placed No. 1 and Florida once again No. 2 in the Chief Executive survey of Best and Worst States for Business for 2024, the pattern for nearly the entire history of the annual survey that began in 2001.