The nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) just put out its 2009-10 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia according to the job, education, wealth-building, and homeownership opportunities afforded to families.

Each state was assigned a letter grade based on their performance on 92 policy and outcome measures and there was certainly no grade inflation. The states that received an A were Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington State, and Wyoming. On the other end of the spectrum, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina all flunked.

The report also revealed a few surprising trends. More than 37 percent of homeowners and 45 percent of renters spend over one-third of their income on housing. And since business equity is — after homeownership — the second-biggest factor in wealth building, CFED recommends implementing a New Entrepreneur Tax Credit for small-business owners with big ideas.

I especially like this last proposal. Starting a business is risky but it’s the American dream — and incentivizing people to go for it seems like a great way to spur the economy.

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