The St. Louis area is ranked the 47th-best area for businesses, according to a Forbes ranking.
Determining factors include taxes, new business programs, job pool, market growth, real estate costs, cost of doing business and educational attainment. St. Louis scored low on the growth and educational components.
The Top 10 regions are Albuquerque, N.M., Raleigh, N.C., Houston, Boise, Idaho, Knoxville, Tenn., Phoenix, Nashville, Durham, N.C., Fayetteville, Ark., and .
The bottom five regions (among those ranked) are Stockton, Calif, (96), Detroit (97), Youngstown, Ohio (98), Flint, Mich. (99) and Gulfport, Miss. (100).