CNBC has declared North Carolina as most improved among the top five states for doing business, elevating the state from 9th to 4th in its annual survey, “America’s Top States for Business.”

“This shows that the hard work of the past year has paid off – our investments in education to build the workforce of tomorrow, policies that create a more business-friendly climate and our aggressive recruiting,” said Gov. Bev Perdue. “When I took office, I pledged to take any meeting and make any call to bring jobs to this state. There’s nothing I love more than convincing a corporate executive of what a great place this is to live and work.”

The ranking is the highest North Carolina has achieved in the four years of the survey. In 2008 and 2007, North Carolina ranked 6th and 5th, respectively.

In its rankings, CNBC scored the states on more than 40 measures of competitiveness based on the cost of doing business, workforce, quality of life, economy, transportation and infrastructure, technology and innovation, education, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living.

CNBC's full report is available at www.cnbc.com.