Minnesota 15th on Forbes' Best States For Business

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Minnesota or South Dakota? We know where we'd rather live.

But our joy is marred by the fact North Dakota beat us out. Is a desolate stretch of frozen tundra really a better place to build a career than the lovely Land of 10,000 lakes?

The magazine used 33 data points in picking its list, tallying such things as costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.

Overall, we came in 15th, behind neighboring North Dakota (11) and Iowa (13), but ahead of South Dakota (17) and Wisconsin (43).

That's right. South Dakota, the state where Republicans are always saying we send our jobs.

Now, it's true that the Dakotas and Iowa are ranked as less expensive places to do business than Minnesota in the Forbes survey. South Dakota, in fact, is rated as the least expensive state overall.

But you get what you pay for. When you filter the results for quality of life, we beat the stuffing out of all our neighbors, placing 4th behind only Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Wisconsin comes in 10th, followed by Iowa (13), North Dakota (23) and South Dakota (25).

We know where we'd rather live.