North Carolina Ranks High for Attracting New Businesses

North Carolina has retained its fourth-place spot in a well-regarded annual ranking of states attracting the most new and expanded corporate facilities according to a national economic development publication.

In 2016, North Carolina had 289 qualifying projects announced, according the latest Governor’s Cup ranking from Site Selection magazine. Among the Top 5, North Carolina trailed only Texas, Ohio and Illinois, and finished ahead of Georgia.

For the last three years, North Carolina has been ranked No. 4 nationally for projects overall, is No. 1 among the eight states in the South Atlantic region for 2016.

The Site Selection region includes Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Virginia, which are aggressive competitors for new and expanded corporate facilities. The full Governor’s Cup ranking of South Atlantic states and number of announced projects in 2016 follows:

1) North Carolina, 289
2) Georgia, 271
3) Virginia, 222
4) Florida, 160
5) South Carolina, 112
6) Maryland, 63
7) Delaware, 8
8) West Virginia, 3

Site Selection defines a qualified project as one that meets one or more of the following criteria: involves at least $1 million in investment, creates at least 20 new jobs, or adds at least 20,000 square feet of new space. The facilities tracked do not include retail projects, schools, hospitals or government projects. The focus is on new corporate facility projects, including headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D operations and logistics sites.