Each year, millions of Americans file new business applications, but only a fraction of these ventures survive the critical first few years. A new analysis from Simply Business breaks down new business survival rates at the state level, looking at where in the U.S. startups are most likely to succeed. Researchers developed a business survival index, based on a weighted average of the most recent survival rates for private-sector establishments during their first, second, and third years of operation, as of March 2024. States were then ranked accordingly.