Wallethub has run a study where they used common relevant factors such as the tax burden and other expenses a business is expected to face, access to resources, etc. to assess different US states in terms of business friendliness. Texas came in first, Rhode Island the last. The former does not surprise me one bit, the latter is a little surprising as I would somehow think states with a more known corruption problem like Maryland or New Jersey or Michigan would be more deserving candidates - but that Rhode Island belongs towards the bottom on that list would not be something I'd dispute for a second.
Personally, I think the fact that Texas did minimum when it came to "lockdownerism" is also a factor here - people hate trying to run businesses in an environment where your business may be shut down at pretty much any time for an arbitrary period of time for unclear reasons.
References
10 best states for starting a new business in America
Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC
Social media links
Website
Support