Wherever a state is located, business-friendly state policies include tax breaks to relocating businesses, low tax rates in general in the state, improving infrastructure (roads, airports, ports, etc), creating attractive industrial zones and/or establishing "enterprise zones," where specific incentives are offered to businesses in order to develop a particular urban area.
Southern states Texas and Florida have no state income tax, which attracts business headquarters operations. But several states outside of the South also have no state income tax -- Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. And state income tax levels are only one factor in attracting businesses. Minnesota has a high state income tax, but rates as business-friendly.
CNBC does an annual study, "America's Top States for Business," which rates all 50 states according to 66 factors in 10 categories of competitiveness. The rankings from the most recent study (2017) list these as the top ten business-friendly states. (Notice that they are scattered across the country, not concentrated in the South or any one region.)
1. Washington
2. Georgia
3. Minnesota
4. Texas
5. North Carolina
6. Colorado
7. Virginia
8. Utah
9. Tennessee
10. Massachusetts