Solution Provider Competitive Saturation

States with large concentrations of high-tech businesses might seem to be the best places to start a solution provider business. And it's true that such states have a lot going for them, including a bigger pool of IT workers and a better understanding among potential customers about what IT can do. But it's also true that such states already have many solution provider businesses and the competition for a startup would be especially tough.

As part the annual Best States project, CRN has ranked the solution provider competitive saturation of each state: That is, a state's ratio of solution providers (from The Channel Company's solution provider database) to the number of businesses – potential customers – in the state (from the U.S. Census).

Keep in mind that the states with the most favorable competitive saturation ratios are often rural and have smaller numbers of businesses. They may be far down the lists in other criteria, such as workforce education levels or opportunities for innovation and growth. And they likely score low on millennial-specific criteria used in this analysis.

The following are the 10 states with the best rankings for solution provider competitive saturation, listed from No. 10 to No. 1. The states with the lowest rankings are then listed from No. 41 to No. 50.