WESTBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Area Development, the leading publication covering site selection and facility planning, has announced the results of its 2016 Top States for Doing Business survey of leading location consultants. According to the results, the Top States for Doing Business are Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi, in that order.
Area Development asked a select group of well-respected location consultants who work with a nationwide client base to name their top-state choices in 10 site selection categories, as follows:
• Overall cost of doing business
• Corporate tax environment
• Business Incentives programs
• Access to capital and project funding
• Competitive labor environment
• Leading work force development programs
• Cooperative and responsive state government
• Favorable regulatory environment
• Speed of permitting
• Most improved economic development policies
The consultants’ responses were weighted in each category, with their #1 choice receiving three points, #2 choice receiving two points, and runners-up in each category receiving one point. States were ranked in order based on the total of their weighted scores across all 10 categories.
Georgia ranked first among all the states for the third year in a row by ranking in the top six spots in all 10 categories, including #1 for cooperative and responsive state government as well as workforce development programs. Ranked second overall, South Carolina ranked #1 for its business incentive programs and speed of permitting. Finishing a close third overall, Texas was #1 for its overall cost of business, access to capital and project funding, competitive labor environment, and favorable regulatory environment. Florida ranked #1 for its corporate tax environment, and Indiana and Ohio tied for the top spot in the most improved economic development policies category.
A full review of this year’s Top States for Doing Business, along with commentary on the results from several highly experienced consultants to industry, is presented in the Q3 issue of Area Development magazine and is posted online at http://www.areadevelopment.com/top-states.
Area Development is published quarterly and also maintains several highly visited websites, which can be reached through its website: www.areadevelopment.com. It also has produced more than 30 Best Practices Consultants Forums for economic developers since 2006.
