The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Concil (SBE Council) has released it's 2009 Small Business Survival Index and Tennessee ranks 13th in the US.  The Index measures over 36 trends that indicate the costs of each state's public policy that affect entrepreneruship and small business.  These measures include taxes, government spending, property rights and various regulatory costs.  This is the 14th installment of the SBE Council's annual report.  South Dakota has a perfect record in the last five years of placing 1st.

For a link to the full report: http://www.sbecouncil.org/uploads/SBSI2009.pdf