One of the most important factors in starting a small business–but often overlooked–is location. Instead, what is usually associated with location are real estate projects by major developers.

Earlier this week, Thumbtack, a service that links people with business and licensed professionals, ranked 35 states and 78 cities–including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia–for overall smallbiz friendliness.

Thumbtack asked 12,000 small-business owners about government policies in their areas, rating locations on everything from overall business friendliness to more specific metrics such as the friendliness of an area’s labor regulations.

A key finding of the survey was that states and cities that make regulatory practices easier, such as licensing, taxation, ease of hiring, zoning and workforce development. Small businesses surveyed said regulations are often one of the biggest obstacles to overcome when starting a business.

Texas, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, Arkansas, Oregon and South Carolina rounded out the top 10, with overall grades ranging from A+ to A-. It’s worth noting that six of the 10 are in the South or Southwest, where right-to-work laws and low taxes have been the norm.

Pennsylvania scored an overall  C- and New Jersey a D+.  Believe it or not, Philadelphia fared somewhat better, with an overall grade of C+, with its best grade, a B+ for ease of hiring, and its worst grade a C+ for zoning.

Virtually every small business owner I interviewed during the course of writing a smallbiz column for the Philadelphia Daily News for almost four years complained about regulatory burdens and taxes.

I’m not sure how much credence we should lend this survey.  What was missing from survey was the quality-of-life factor.  I mean, don’t smallbiz owners want good schools,  infrastructure and access to quality, affordable health care?  Are these not factors in deciding where to start a business?

And would you really want to start a business in Kansas right now? Seriously?  This is a state that’s experienced negative economic growth for three of the last four quarters.