Consultants Recognize States’ Competitiveness in Area Development Magazine’s 10th Annual “Top States for Doing Business” Survey

South Carolina ranks #3 and North Carolina ranks #5

Area Development, the leading site selection and facility planning publication, announces the results of its 2019 Top States for Doing Business survey of leading location consultants. According to the results, the Top States for Doing Business are Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, and Indiana tied with Virginia, in that order.

Area Development asked a select group of consultants who work with a nationwide client base to name their top state choices in 12 categories that impact companies’ location and facility plans. The states were ranked based on their number of mentions in each category, and total mentions were calculated to rank the top 20 states overall.

“We poll those consultants who are actively responsible for guiding scores of corporate site location project decisions, billions of dollars in capex, millions of square feet in new construction, and most importantly creating thousands of new jobs across all 50 states,” said Area Development Publisher & President Dennis J. Shea.

For the sixth year in a row, Georgia ranked first among the states by ranking within the top three spots in all 12 categories, including #1 for competitive labor environment and leading workforce development programs. Georgia also tied for #1 with Tennessee for cooperative and responsive state government and with Alabama for speed of permitting.

Ranked second overall, Tennessee ranked #1 for its overall cost of doing business, favorable utility rates, and shovel ready sites program. Finishing third overall, South Carolina ranked #1 for its business incentive programs. Ranking fourth overall, Alabama ranked #1 for its favorable general regulatory environment. California took the #1 spot for access to capital and project funding, while sixth ranked Texas was #1 for its corporate tax environment. Ohio, ranking ninth overall, ranked #1 for most improved economic development policies.

A full review of this year’s Top States for Doing Business, along with commentary on the results, is presented in the Q3 issue of Area Development magazine and posted online at www.areadevelopment.com/topStates.

Area Development is published quarterly and also maintains several highly visited websites, which can be reached at www.areadevelopment.com. It also has produced more than 50 Best Practices Consultants Forums for economic developers since 2006.