George Mason’s vital role in advancing Virginia as America’s top state in business

CNBC has named Virginia America’s Top State for Business in 2024, and the No. 1 state for education, dual distinctions that highlight George Mason University’s impact as the largest and most innovative public university in Virginia and a top 50 public university nationally.

Virginia finished in the top half of all 10 of the CNBC study’s weighted categories used to determine the state business rankings. In addition to being tops in education, CNBC rated Virginia infrastructure (3rd), workforce (9th), economy (11th), quality of life (19th), cost of doing business (24th), technology and innovation (15th), business friendliness (5th), access to capital (8th), and cost of living (19th).

“You can directly tie George Mason University’s impact on the state to criteria throughout the latest CNBC Best State for Business ranking,” George Mason University President Gregory Washington said. “George Mason provides opportunities for students of all backgrounds, prepares the state’s workforce in high-demand fields, provides guidance to business owners around the state through Mason Enterprise, and attracts and keeps more talent in Virginia than peer universities. When you look at these rankings that cite Virginia as No. 1 in the country for business and education, you can’t help but see George Mason.”

These are among the contributions from George Mason in CNBC ranking categories:

Education

• The Wall Street Journal and Forbes rank George Mason as a top 50 public university nationally.
• Through the Early Identification Program, George Mason works with middle and high school students who aspire to be the first in their family to attend college. George Mason also offers students direct admission and partners with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) and other community colleges around the state through the Mason Virginia Promise to provide direct admission pathways so students save time and money toward earning a degree. Virginians who want help to start a business can work with Mason Enterprise and its network of Small Business Development Centers.
• George Mason has launched the Accelerated College and Employability Skills (ACCESS) Academy with NOVA and Loudoun County Public Schools, and with several high schools has launched the Shenandoah Valley Rural Regional College Partnership Laboratory School for Data Science, Computing, and Applications.

Technology and Innovation

• U.S. News ranks George Mason as the No. 1 public university in the state for innovation.
• George Mason research has more than 100 unique industry partners and more than 230 unique university partners. Of those 100 unique industry partners, 13 are Fortune 500 companies. George Mason also has partnerships with 118 of the 146 R1  universities.
• The College of Engineering and Computing enrollment has grown to an all-time high of nearly 11,000 students, or 27% of George Mason’s total student population. 
• George Mason is about to lead its first NASA mission.
• George Mason offers such state-of-the-art facilities as the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center; the Biomedical Research Lab, one of 12 biosafety level-3 labs in the nation; the Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory, one of eight “body farms” of its type in the country; and the Nanofabrication Facility, Northern Virginia’s only academic/core clean room facility accessible for workforce training.
• In recent years, George Mason started the country’s first cybersecurity engineering program and opened the first College of Public Health and first School of Computing in the state.
• George Mason offers an ethics in artificial intelligence (AI) minor, the first such program in the country.

Workforce

• In May, more than 10,000 George Mason students, from 114 countries and all 50 states, earned their degrees.
• 73% of in-state graduates stay in Virginia—3% higher than public four-year institutions in the state—and 29% of out-of-state students remain in Virginia after graduation, 9% higher than the state average.
• More than 15,000 internships are posted in George Mason’s database annually, and 89% are open to sophomore and juniors. About 78% are paid internships, and George Mason students have received more than $238,000 toward unpaid internships from University Career Services.
• George Mason fills critical vacancies in the workforce through the Tech Talent Investment Program, a partnership with the state.

Economy

• In the Class of 2024, 41% of undergraduates and 44% of graduate students earned degrees in STEM and health sciences fields.
• George Mason has been cited by several publications, including U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal, and Washington Monthly, as the top public university in Virginia for the upward mobility of its graduates, and the New York Times ranks George Mason the top public university in the state in its economic diversity index.
• Mason Enterprise, which operates 25 Small Business Development Centers around the state, is the host to federal, state, and local programs that support a portfolio of more than 30,000 start-ups and small businesses. Last year Mason Enterprise companies received more than $3.7 billion in follow-on funding, and more than 40,000 entrepreneurs, small business owners, students, and research faculty attended 900+ workshops and educational programs, received individual counseling, were assisted with product development, resided in one of five incubators, or received intellectual property advice.
• 88% of Class of 2023 survey respondents report they are employed in positions related to their career goals.

Quality of Life

• George Mason, the most diverse public university in the state, is in the top 10 for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) free speech and open inquiry rankings.
• George Mason has a 5 Star rating from the Campus Pride Index.
• George Mason this spring earned a Gold rating for being a military friendly university, its latest honor for serving the military population. About 1 in 10 George Mason students is active or former military or a military dependent.
• George Mason's Center for Community Mental Health is the main training clinic for Mason doctoral candidates in clinical psychology, as well as students in other behavioral health disciplines. CCMH provides evidence-based, accessible, affordable and culturally sensitive therapy and testing services to our Northern Virginia community.
• The Mason and Partners (MAP) interprofessional clinics serve the uninsured and refugee community within Prince William and Fairfax counties.  
• George Mason is the cultural hub of Northern Virginia, offering the community world-class events in the arts, Division I collegiate athletics, youth and family programming, and access to recreational facilities.

Virginia has now topped the CNBC business rankings for the sixth time since 2007 and for the third time in five years.