More than 500 CEOs considered a wide range of criteria, from taxation and regulation to workforce quality and living environment, in the Chief Executive annual ranking of the best states for business, and Texas was tops for the seventh year in a row.

While the Lone Star State may not be perfect-many leaders would like to see improvements in its education system-it is Periclean Athens compared to California in the eyes of the 550 CEOs surveyed for Chief Executive's seventh annual report on the best and worst states in which to do business. It's the seventh year that California-to no one's great surprise-ranked as worst state.

But there has been some jockeying within the ranks. The Golden State was closely followed in the hall of shame by New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Michigan, with Illinois elbowing its way past New Jersey this year for the dubious distinction of third worst. Meanwhile, among the best states, Indiana jumped to sixth place from 16th in 2010, giving Hoosiers the third-biggest advance in the rankings in a single year.

Wisconsin and Louisiana posted the two biggest gains since 2010, with the latter, along with Oklahoma, also showing the biggest gains over the last five years. By proactively reshaping its posture toward business taxation and regulation, Louisiana has been quietly stealing pages from the Texas playbook.

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