Illinois Receives Failing Grade for Small Business Friendliness

Date: July 19, 2016

Primary issues include regulations, taxes, and labor policies.

Illinois Receives Failing Grade for Small Business Friendliness

Illinois may finally have a stop-gap budget, but the state is still failing its small businesses.

For the third year in a row, Illinois received an ‘F’ grade in Thumbtack’s annual Small Business Friendliness Survey, which rates each state on the policies that affect entrepreneurs’ ability to start, operate, and grow a business. In 2016, more than 12,000 U.S. small business owners participated in the study.

Here are the key findings from Illinois’ report card:

  • The Prairie State is the second least friendly state for small businesses in the nation.
  • Illinoisans were 33 percent more likely than the national average to say that the state’s labor regulations are unfriendly.
  • Illinois entrepreneurs were 32 percent more likely to say that tax regulations are unfriendly.
  • The state’s licensing experience is middle-of-the-road: 36 percent of Illinois responders said the state requires them to hold a license or permit, and 49 percent of those people said that the licensing/permitting compliance process was easy.
  • However, Illinoisans were 31 percent more likely to call the state’s licensing requirements unfriendly.
  • Zoning policies are slightly worse than the national average: Illinoisans were 2 percent more likely to say that zoning was unfriendly.

Ultimately, Illinois earned F’s for overall friendliness; ease of starting a business; employment, labor, and hiring; tax code; and licensing. Ease of hiring and training/network programs earned a B-; environmental and zoning policies earned a C-; and regulations and health/safety earned D’s.

Meanwhile, neighboring states fared better. Indiana got a B, Iowa got a C, Kentucky got a C-, Missouri got a B-, and Wisconsin got a C-.

To learn more, visit https://www.thumbtack.com/il/.  


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