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CRITICS CALL IT A job-killer. Proponents say it’s a long-overdue move to share near-record corporate profits with workers who haven’t seen a mandated wage increase in more than 10 years, a record stretch. And others say it’s warranted in higher-cost states, but makes no sense in states where the price of housing, groceries and transportation is lower.

Raising the minimum wage evokes a passionate response from all sides, and the argument is growing more heated now that the House of Representatives has voted to more than double the federal minimum age from $7.25 an hour to $15 hourly by 2024. State by state, the minimum wage varies dramatically – from the federally mandated cellar of $7.25 in a swath of Southern states, plus rural states such as Idaho and Utah, to $11.10 in New York and up to $12 an hour in California. As of this year, 21 states require businesses (with some exceptions, such as tipped jobs) to pay above the federal minimum.

Was it worth it for those states to raise the minimum wage? Data collected by U.S. News as well as detailed studies by economists indicates it was – or at least that hiking the minimum wage has not hurt the state economies.

The states with the three highest minimum wages – California, Massachusetts and Washington – also rank first, second and third, respectively, in U.S. News’ Best States rankings for the best business environment. Arizona, with the nation’s sixth-highest minimum wage, also makes the top 10 for business environment.

Washington, Oregon and Arizona rank first, third and fifth in U.S. News’ rankings for business growth, while having among the highest minimum wages in the country. California, New York, Massachusetts and Washington also make U.S. News top six for venture capital investment. Oregon, Arizona and Washington also make the top 10 for job growth.

Cost of living does appear to influence state minimum wage levels, according to a U.S. News analysis, with lower-cost states (such as Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma) generally keeping to the bare federal minimum, and higher-cost ones (such as California, New York and Alaska) hewing higher. But in cases where states offer a higher minimum wage than the cost of living would indicate (Arizona, Minnesota and Michigan), the state economies are not worse for wear. In addition to Arizona’s high rankings, Michigan ranked 16^th in both overall growth and job growth, and second in the growth of its young population. Minnesota, meanwhile, ranks fourth in labor force participation among the states, according to U.S. News’ rankings.

A recent economic journal paper – considered the most comprehensive modern look at the impact of state and local minimum wage increases – analyzes 138 minimum wage increases over the past five years. The result? Pretty much what the proponents intended, says Arindrajit Dube, a professor at the University of Massachusetts—Amherst and one of the study’s authors.

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