Texas endured a wrenching budget crisis last year. While the state is still not out of the fiscal woods, it managed to emerge with its sterling, triple-A bond rating and stable outlook intact.

The state had to make some sacrifices though, and that hurt in some categories. Texas comes in 26th inEducation and 35th in Quality of Life. And while the state held the line on income taxes, the overall tax burden — including property and sales taxes — is high. That hurts Texas in the all-important Cost of Doing Business category, where it comes in 28th.

Since we began ranking the states in 2007, Texas and Virginia have traded places each year in first and second place. But the pattern was broken in 2012.

This year’s runner up is not Virginia butUtah, which surged from last year’s eighth-place finish. The Beehive State boasts low costs (11th lowest for Cost of Doing Business, sixth for Cost of Living), a world class Workforce (ninth place) and moves into the top 10 for Quality of Life. The state has seen an impressive influx of venture capital of late, jumping ten places to 13th for Access to Capital, and its Infrastructure improved to eighth place this year.

Virginia: Road to Trouble

So what happened to Virginia — last year’s top state?

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