• Starting a business might be easier in some states compared with others. 
• In the past two years, several states passed laws lifting restrictions to entrepreneurship. 
• For example, Missouri’s Right to Start Act gives tax breaks to startups.

If you’re considering starting a business, like the 5.4 million Americans who did last year, the ease of the process varies depending on where you live.

Over the past couple years, some states have made entrepreneurship easier by passing legislation that lifted certain restrictions, enacted tax breaks for young companies, and banned red tape that can make it difficult for some to survive. 

For example, state Rep. Travis Fitzwater of Missouri introduced the Right to Start Act last year to encourage entrepreneurship in the state with tax incentives and increased government contracting.

“The best way to incentivize new businesses is to remove barriers to start,” he told Insider months before the bill was signed into law. “Startups are the ones that create jobs, not large businesses.”

Below is Insider’s list of states that passed recent legislation to benefit entrepreneurs. We will continue to update this list as new laws are signed.