Republican governors have strongly criticized CNBC's 2026 "America’s Top States for Business" quality-of-life rankings, which placed conservative red states in all of the bottom 10 positions. Despite these rankings, official U.S. Census data reveals that these same states are experiencing some of the highest population growth in the nation.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders highlighted the contradiction, noting that tens of thousands of new residents have moved to Arkansas in recent years, "voting with their feet and voting overwhelmingly for the commonsense, conservative leadership Arkansas offers."

CNBC stated that its rankings are based on "hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare," but also incorporate ideological policies. The metric explicitly penalizes states for lacking protections against discrimination and for restrictive abortion laws, which critics argue introduces a liberal bias.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's office responded by pointing to the more than 500,000 Americans who have relocated to Georgia in the past five years, many fleeing Democrat-led states such as New York and California. They described CNBC's rankings as "laughable" and urged the outlet to consider the migration trends instead.

Government data shows Texas gained a net of over 67,000 residents through domestic migration between mid-2024 and mid-2025, Tennessee added over 42,000, and Alabama increased by more than 23,000 residents during the same period. In contrast, Los Angeles County, California, lost approximately 53,000 residents.

The release of CNBC's rankings sparked widespread online mockery and conservative backlash, with critics alleging a clear liberal bias embedded in the ranking criteria.

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