Yellowhammer has teamed up with the Alabama Policy Institute to rank the business-friendliness of the state’s 50 largest cities. API’s researchers derived answers to the following questions: What cities have the best tax policy? Which have low costs of living and crime rates? What cities have experienced the most year-over-year population and job growth? What type of economic vitality do cities have, including the average incomes for local residents?

API’s Business-Friendly Formula is calculated as follows:

Economic Vitality (35% of overall score):
• Recent job growth (50% of Economic Vitality category)
• Residential population growth from 2010 to 2011(12.5%)
• Population growth from 2000 to 2010, divided by 10 (12.5%)
• Median per capita income (25%)

Business Tax Burden (30% of overall score):
• Business property taxes (70% of Business Tax Burden category)
• Local sales tax (30%)

Community Allure (20% of overall score):
• Cost of living index (35% of Community Allure category)
• Per capita violent crime rate (35%)
• Percent of adults age 25 or older with at least a high school diploma (15%)
• Average SAT 10 scores for 8th grade math and reading (15%)

Transportation Infrastructure (15% of overall score):
• Distance to primary commercial service airport (25% of Transportation Infrastructure category)
• Distance to commercial rail service (25%)
• Distance to port capable of handling container shipping (25%)
• Distance to Interstate Highway System (25%)

Wednesday we released 41-50. Thursday we released 31-40. Up next: 21-30.