Kansas was named the seventh most pro-business state in the nation Wednesday by Pollina Corporate Real Estate, an influential brokerage and consulting firm in Chicago.

The state finished 10th in 2008.

The top 10 states were, in order: Virginia, Utah, North Carolina, Wyoming, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kansas, Georgia, Florida and Nebraska.

This is a particularly good ranking for Kansas, which more often scores in the 20s and 30s in business-related rankings.

Some rankings look narrowly at business tax rates, others expand to include business costs such as labor and electricity, while others try to measure business climate such as education levels and how pro-business the legal system is.