New Jersey’s standing among “America’s Top States for Business” took a hit in new rankings released by a leading business-news network.

After jumping into the top 20 in last year’s state-by-state rankings issued by CNBC, New Jersey fell to 25th in the latest rankings released Thursday by the Englewood Cliffs-based network.

CNBC evaluates states across 10 categories, factoring in things like business friendliness, education, cost of living, infrastructure and workforce.

Notable drops in the infrastructure and cost of living categories pushed New Jersey back into the middle of the pack, according to the 2024 rankings.

Virginia, North Carolina and Texas landed in CNBC’s top three spots this year, while Alaska, Mississippi and Hawaii occupied the bottom three spots.

What Gov. Murphy said — last year

Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy took to social media to herald New Jersey’s status as the most improved state in the 2023 rankings, after New Jersey went from 42nd all the way up to 19th.

“New Jersey’s turnaround continues,” said Murphy, a second-term Democrat, at the time.

Murphy did not comment publicly on the latest rankings Thursday. Murphy’s office pointed to improvements in job creation and other economic metrics during his tenure when asked for a comment on the latest CNBC rankings.

“However, we know there is more work to be done,” said Murphy spokesperson Tyler Jones.

New Jersey’s standing in the new rankings also drew the attention of Michele Siekerka, the president and chief executive officer of the influential New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

She noted New Jersey placed in the top 10 in several categories, such as quality of life and access to capital, but graded near the very bottom in others, including business friendliness and cost of doing business.

“It’s also important to remember that this annual ranking represents a current moment in time,” Siekerka said.

“We continue to encourage policies that will make New Jersey a more desired and competitive destination for business over the course of years and decades,” she said.

By the numbers

In addition to overall quality of life (3rd) and access to capital (7th), New Jersey also scored its best grades this year in the categories of education (8th), workforce (15th) and economy (17th).

The state received its poorest rankings in the categories of cost of living (37th), cost of doing business (42nd) and business friendliness (49th).

‘We have the power to make considerable improvements, if only we had the appetite for it.’ — Michele Siekerka, New Jersey Business & Industry Association

New Jersey slid from 21st to 30th in the infrastructure category, a drop that comes at a time when New Jersey Transit, the state’s cash-strapped bus and rail agency, continues to struggle through a difficult summer marked by frequent service outages and disruptions.

But Jones, the Murphy spokesperson, noted there are major rail infrastructure investments currently underway in northern New Jersey, including the Hudson Tunnel project and replacement of the Portal Bridge.

“Additionally, our administration has put an emphasis on becoming a leader in generative artificial intelligence with the development of the Princeton AI hub and various other innovation economy projects,” Jones said.

NJ’s cost of living

Meanwhile, a slide from 30th to 37th in the cost of living category comes after NJ Transit hiked fares earlier this month, and after highway tolls were increased across the state earlier this year.

Murphy and fellow Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature also approved a new law earlier this year that established a new registration fee for electric vehicles. The same law also sets the stage for a series of gas-tax hikes.

Late last month, Murphy and lawmakers also approved a higher tax on the state’s most profitable businesses as part of a broader plan to increase state funding for NJ Transit.

Siekerka, the NJBIA leader, said that new corporate tax policy, which business groups have widely panned, leaves New Jersey with “the top corporate business tax in the nation.”

“Factoring that national outlier status with our other high business taxes, our extreme regulatory burdens that bring further high costs and our sharp decline in Fortune 500 companies, it’s clear there is much improvement to be made in these areas so we can better compete,” Siekerka said.

“And we have the power to make considerable improvements, if only we had the appetite for it,” she said.