Indiana’s generally attractive business climate remains a primary bright spot as outlined in the recent Indiana Chamber Indiana Vision 2025 Report Card. However, lagging numbers in educational achievement, health care and new business formation leave much room for improvement.

Furthermore, a per capita income ranking of 41st only improves to a middle-of-the-pack 24th when the state’s favorable cost of living is factored in.

The Report Card compares the 50 states on 70 metrics related to 37 goals grouped by four drivers: Outstanding Talent, Attractive Business Climate, Superior Infrastructure, and Dynamic and Creative Culture.

Overall, Indiana ranks in the top 10 in seven of the 70 metrics. It has 10 rankings of 40th or worse. Compared to 2019, the state improved in 22 rankings and declined in 26. In looking at just the state’s performance in 2021 compared to two years earlier, Indiana’s raw scores improved in 31 metrics and declined in 20.

One high point is the two-year increase from nearly 87% to 92.6% of Hoosiers with access to high-speed broadband and mobile connections. What makes this even more impressive is that the national average decreased by 0.5% due to the FCC raising its standard for what qualifies as “high speed.”

Health care shortcomings continue to be a detriment, marring an otherwise strong business climate in the areas of taxes, regulations and more. Indiana’s adult smoking rate of 19.2% (a decrease from 21.8% in the most recent biennial comparison) is still 40th worst among the 50 states.

Postsecondary results continue to lag with Indiana rankings of 37th and 40th in the areas of associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees. On a positive note, the number of graduating high school seniors needing remediation in both mathematics and language arts dropped to only 1% (compared to 11% in 2011).

In the Dynamic and Creative Culture driver, a low point of this 2021 Report Card is the drop from fifth to 23rd in net job creation in firms that are at least six years old. This marks the first year since 2009 that Indiana ranked outside the top 20. Bottom 10 results remain in the rate of new entrepreneurs as well as employment at young firms.

In better news, venture capital investments grew by 55.6% for the three-year period beginning in 2018.

This is the fifth Indiana Vision 2025 Report Card in the past decade; full results are available at www.indianachamber.com/2025.

Resource: Adam H. Berry at (317) 264-6892 or email: aberry@indianachamber.com