Low Tax Burden

NO corporate state income tax
NO personal state income tax
NO inventory tax
NO franchise tax
NO occupation tax
NO value-added tax

Local Taxes

- Wyoming assesses four categories of property taxes:

• Mineral production
• Industrial
• Residential
• Commercial

- Industrial property tax is figured using the following formula: (Asset Value x 11.5%) x Local Mill Rate = Annual Property Tax Liability
*Local mill rates typically range from .6 to .7*

- Wyoming's sales tax is 4 percent, with counties electing up to 3 percent additional.

Ask Wendy about sales tax exemptions for manufacturing, electricity and data centers.

Ask Wendy about our Managed Data Center Cost Reduction Grant program.

Wyoming consistently receives high marks for state management and deep financial reserves, which, in turn, provides business owners with a reliable, collaborative environment in which to work.

The Wyoming Legislature is statutorily required to maintain a balanced budget and the state has approximately $20.1  billion in savings and trusts. Wyoming has invested billions in infrastructure critical to public and private business needs.

Wyoming’s open-door access to legislators and the Governor is especially attractive to startup companies in highly regulated industries. This access, coupled with numerous grant, loan and incentive programs, provides businesses with key financial resources.

Infrastructure Development

Our Business Ready Community grant and loan program provides financing for publicly owned infrastructure.

Visit our Business Ready Community grant and loan program page

Loans

We work with local lenders, federal agencies, the Wyoming State Treasurer, and cities, towns, counties or state authorities to support businesses with capital needs.

Ask Josh about the loan packages we can offer.

Wyoming is not unlike most states in facing an aging baby boomer population. However, Wyoming’s second most populated age group is 20-29, and the state’s median age of 36.9 is 14th youngest in the country (Wyoming Department of Administration and Information, 2016).

Wyoming recognizes that people are what make businesses successful, and the state invests in its current and future workforce needs.

Wyoming is a right-to-work state, and 7.1 percent of the state’s workforce are union members, compared to 11.1 percent nationally (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2015).

Wyoming Department of Workforce Services

- Free statewide job-matching system, Wyoming at Work.

- Specialized recruitment and screening services at Workforce Centers throughout the state

- Workforce specialists work with companies to identify labor information, assist in writing job orders, researching wages and more

- Workforce Development Training Fund grants provide $1,000-$4,000 per trainee per fiscal year for new positions, skill upgrades or retraining

Visit http://doe.state.wy.us/lmi/ for Wyoming labor market information.

In Wyoming, we measure travel by time, not mileage. If it takes an hour to get from town to one of the state’s three interstate highways, you can count on it taking an hour.

In Wyoming, we are not burdened by traffic jams.

Strategically located in central North America, many routes lead to, through and from Wyoming.

• A total of 915 miles of interstate crisscross Wyoming. Interstate 15 connects to Los Angeles and Canada, and is accessible via I-80 or I-90.
• BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad own a combined 1,844 route-miles of track in Wyoming. In all, the state’s freight-rail system consists of 1,868 miles of track.
• Wyoming features 10 commercial airports with final destination service to major cities around the world. Three international airports border the state in Denver, Salt Lake City and Billings, Montana.
• Wyoming’s excellent transportation access has been a major factor in the creation of new business parks suited to manufacturing and transportation and warehousing companies:
  
  
  • Casper Logistics Hub (CLH): Located in Casper, the CLH is one of the newest logistic centers in the western U.S. It features 700 acres of industrial land and the CTRAN railyard and transloading facility. It is strategically positioned next to BNSF’s Class I rail lines, Casper/Natrona County International Airport, a foreign trade zone and Interstate 25.
  • Salt Creek Heights Business Park: The Park consists of about 135 acres outside of Casper and was designed by Refined Properties LLC. It is home to American Tire Distributors and its 80,000 square-foot warehouse.
  • Swan Ranch Rail Park: This 550-acre industrial facility, developed by Granite Peak Development LLC, is part of 7,200 acres near the Interstate 80/Interstate 25 interchange south of Cheyenne. The rail park has access to the BNSF and Union Pacific rail lines.

• The Wyoming Business Council has invested $98.8 million in business parks statewide since 2004.

Low-Cost, High-Impact Education

The state’s 301,770 labor force benefits from a strong commitment to education. Wyoming consistently ranks among the top 10 states in annual K-12 per-pupil spending (currently about $17,000 per student). Wyoming spending per K-12 pupil increased 62 percent from 2005-15.

In 2005, Wyoming legislators created the Hathaway Scholarship program for qualified students who graduate from Wyoming high schools. It funds scholarships to attend the University of Wyoming in Laramie and any of the eight community colleges strategically located throughout Wyoming.

The percentage of Wyomingites 25 and older with at least a high school diploma is 92.3. The percentage with a bachelor’s degree or more is 25.7. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015).

Wired to the World

- Installed in 2014, the Unified Network provides a sprawling backbone of public internet infrastructure across the state. It means Wyoming schools rank first in the nation for internet connectivity, and Wyoming is one of only two states with 100 percent connectivity to all its schools.

- The state’s new broadband program is having great success in delivering improved internet access into even the most rural reaches of the state.

Research Centers of Excellence

- The University of Wyoming offers a world-class education with more than 200 areas of study in Laramie and via distance-learning programs, and it consistently ranks among the best-valued universities in the country.

- Specifically, the School of Energy Resources and the College of Engineering and Applied Science have partnered to enhance education and research in

     •   Improved oil and gas recovery

     •   Clean coal and gas to liquids

     •   High-performance computational science and engineering

     •   Oil and gas flow in unconventional reservoirs

- UW also maintains the UW/Casper College Center, nine outreach education centers, and Extension Service centers in all 23 counties and on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

- The Wyoming Business Council and the community colleges partner to target and develop employment training programs to meet the specific needs of businesses and industries.

- In January 2016, “Inside Higher Ed” named Wyoming best in the nation in terms of state funding for higher education. Wyoming was the only state to receive an “A” grade.

People of all ages benefit from Wyoming’s high quality of life, easy access to national and state parks, year-round recreational opportunities, open spaces and community/cultural events. 

The people who live and work in Wyoming believe quality of life and economic opportunity go hand in hand. That’s why community development funding and technical assistance are are a critical element to the Wyoming Business Council’s mission to increase Wyoming’s prosperity.

Wyoming features two national parks, Devils Tower National Monument, 12 state parks and five national forests along with plenty of open spaces to hunt, fish, bike, hike and climb.

The state is also home to seven ski areas and resorts, from Jackson Hole in the northwest corner to minutes from Laramie in the southeast.

Arts and culture? Wyoming offers an array of Western- and urban-themed events throughout the state, from rodeos to galleries to symphonies to brew fests to farmers markets.

Links

Please visit these links for more information about Wyoming’s unmatched quality of life:

Wyoming Travel and Tourism

Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails

Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Wyoming Business Council Monthly Newsletter

The tectonic forces that created Wyoming’s complex Rocky Mountain terrain preserved rich fossil beds from multiple geologic eras, making the state a major producer of coal, natural gas and crude oil.

Wyoming has the smallest population in the U.S. but supplies more energy than any other state.

Wyoming’s unique geological features also produce some of the best wind resources in the nation. Sustained winds are funneled through mountain passes and out across the high prairie.

Wyoming also straddles the Continental Divide, providing the headwaters for four major river basins in the western U.S.: the Missouri-Mississippi, Green-Colorado, Snake-Columbia and Great Salt Lake.

Add it all up, and Wyoming has ample resources and cost-competitive rates for industrial, commercial and agricultural use.

• If Wyoming were its own country, it would be the third-largest energy exporter in the world. (Source: EIA)
• Wyoming’s industrial electricity rate is 45 cents below the national average; commercial rate is 99 cents below. (Source: EIA)
• In the eight-state Mountain region, Wyoming is 33 cents below the industrial electricity rate average; commercial rate is 50 cents below. (Source: EIA)
• Wyoming has more than 40 percent of class 5, 6 and 7 inland wind resources in the U.S., with the potential of producing 116,670 MW. (Source: NREL)
• There are approximately 778 municipal water systems and 200 wastewater treatment systems in Wyoming. Many industrial users have one supply for potable water and another for non-potable water. Additionally, low electricity rates help minimize water pumping costs. (Source: Wyoming Rural Water Association)

There are nine telecommunications providers near Interstate 80 and throughout Wyoming. Nearly 80 percent of housing units in the state have broadband access through telco, cable or wireless providers.