When it comes to surviving capriciously imposed economic restraints on business, Montana is among the states least likely able to survive. It ranks third from the bottoms according to Wallet Hub.

Only Nevada and Hawaii fared worse.

Across the country around 100,000 businesses having closed permanently during 2020, said WalletHub, in a report on the States With the Most Pandemic-Proof Small Businesses, along with accompanying videos.

Pennsylvania has proven to be the most pandemic-proof state.

“One of the major reasons why …is that it has the lowest percentage of small-business employees operating in highly affected industries,” said Wallet Hub. “Highly-affected industries only comprise 41 percent of all small-business employment in Pennsylvania, the lowest percentage in the U.S., too,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “Other key reasons why Pennsylvania has the most pandemic-proof small businesses are that it has experienced the fourth quickest recovery of unemployment claims and it has the fourth largest share of small businesses who received financial assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).”

To identify the states where businesses have the greatest potential to recover, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 11 key metrics. Below, are some of the highlights regarding Montana:

Pandemic-Proof Small Businesses in Montana (1=Best, 25=Avg.):

* 50th – Share of Small Businesses Operating in High-Risk Industries

* 47th – Share of Small-Business Employees Operating in High-Risk Industries Among Total Small-Business Employees

* 22nd – WalletHub’s “States Whose Weekly Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest” Score

* 48th – Share of Small Businesses Who Received Financial Assistance from Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

* 25th – Small Business Friendliness Grade – “State Response to COVID-19” Grade