ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — North Carolina remains one of the nation’s best states for business, but a new national ranking gives the state a much different standing when it comes to policies affecting workers.

North Carolina ranked No. 2 overall in CNBC’s 2026 America’s Top States for Business ranking, down from No. 1 in 2025.

The state ranked No. 1 for its economy and No. 3 for its workforce. It also ranked No. 5 for access to capital, No. 8 for technology and innovation and No. 8 for business friendliness.

But Oxfam America’s 2026 Best States to Work Index ranked North Carolina 52nd — last — among the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

The two rankings measure different things. CNBC considers factors including the economy, workforce, infrastructure and business friendliness, while Oxfam examines state policies involving wages, worker protections and the right to organize.

Oxfam’s index evaluates 37 policies across those areas. North Carolina received an overall score of 4.90 out of 100, compared with an average score of 39.04.

North Carolina ranked 51st in Oxfam’s wages category, with a score of 8.17. It also ranked 51st in worker protections and 52nd in rights to organize.

The state’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, where it has remained since 2009.

Oxfam calculates that North Carolina’s minimum wage covers just 19 percent of the cost of living for a family of four with one wage earner.

North Carolina also does not mandate paid sick leave or paid family and medical leave, according to the report. The state is among five Southern states at the bottom of Oxfam’s index, along with South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

The wage gap looks different in Western North Carolina.

Just Economics of Western North Carolina sets the region’s living-wage benchmark at $24.10 an hour. The organization also has a pledged standard of $20 an hour for participating employers.

That puts the state’s minimum wage $16.85 below the regional living-wage benchmark.

Just Economics advocates for living wages, affordable housing and better transit in Western North Carolina. The organization says its Living Wage Certification program continued to expand in the first half of 2026.

During that period, Just Economics certified eight new employers and recertified more than 100 employers after the organization’s Hurricane Helene criteria exemption ended.

The organization says those employers provided $912,000 in raises to meet the program’s criteria.

Just Economics also hosted an employer networking event and worked with several employers pursuing dual certification with Living Wage for US.

The organization’s work comes as businesses and workers across Western North Carolina continue to deal with the economic effects of Tropical Storm Helene.

CNBC’s ranking shows North Carolina’s economy continuing to perform strongly. The state’s GDP grew 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2026, and the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in May, according to the economic data included in CNBC’s profile.

At the same time, North Carolina ranked lower in several categories tied more closely to residents’ day-to-day costs and experiences. The state ranked No. 34 for quality of life and No. 35 for cost of living.

Oxfam’s report points to Virginia as an example of how labor policies can differ between neighboring states.

Virginia’s minimum wage is $12.77 an hour in 2026, compared with North Carolina’s $7.25. Oxfam says Virginia’s minimum wage covers 30 percent of the cost of living for a family of four, compared with 19 percent in North Carolina.

Virginia also passed legislation establishing statewide paid family and medical leave and paid sick time, although those policies had not yet taken effect when Oxfam calculated its 2026 scores. The state moved from No. 23 to No. 19 overall in Oxfam’s index.

Oxfam says the bottom five states in its 2026 index all have a $7.25 minimum wage, none mandates paid sick leave or paid family and medical leave, and all have right-to-work laws.

For North Carolina, the result is a sharp difference depending on what is being measured: No. 2 for business in CNBC’s ranking and No. 52 in Oxfam’s ranking of state labor policies.