Florida's Business Climate Gets Low Marks by Forbes, 24/7 Wall St.

Two reports out in the past couple of weeks havent been kind to Floridas efforts to create a more business-friendly climate.

Florida landed in 24th place on Forbes' The Best States for Business.

Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, North Dakota and Colorado topped the Forbes list, while Mississippi, Michigan, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Maine were at the bottom end.

Forbes based its rankings on six categories: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.

Business costs, economic climate and quality of life dragged down Florida.

Florida's business costs were ranked 36th; labor supply, 13; regulatory environment, 15; economic climate, 44; growth prospects, 13; quality of life, 37.

Meanwhile, the Web-based 24/7WallSt.com put Florida in 40th in its analysis of the Best and Worst Run States in America.

"Florida was hit hard by the housing crisis. Home values declined the third-most in the country between 2006 and 2010," 24/7Wallst.com reported.

"In October, one inevery 423 homes was foreclosed upon. The state spends very little relative to its budget, and so it maintains a low debt per capita and a AAA credit rating. However, its lack of expenditure on public welfare has not helped the states poor, unemployed and uninsured citizens. The state had the sixth highest unemployment rate in the country in September. Also, 21.3 percent of Floridas population in 2010 was without health insurance, the third-highest rate in the country."

Wyoming topped the 24/7WallSt.com list, followed by Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

"To determine how well -- or how poorly -- a state is run, 24/7 Wall St. weighed each states financial health based on factors including credit score and debt," 24/7Wallst.com reported. "We also evaluated how a state uses its resources to provide its residents with high living standards, reviewing dimensions such as health insurance, employment rate, low crime and a good education."

The bottom rung were California, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada.