Ohio tops economic development ranking for second year in row
Ohio has held on to the top spot in the nation in a key economic development report. For the second straight year, the state finished first in the country in the annual Site Selection magazine Governor’s Cup ranking, released Monday. The ranking measures the number of economic development projects per person.
Georgia was No. 2 and Kentucky was third.
In terms of total projects, Ohio finished a distant second to Texas for the ninth straight year with 419 projects in 2020 to 781 for Texas.
Qualifying projects are those meeting one or more of Site Selection’s criteria for inclusion in the Conway Projects
Database: a minimum investment of $1 million, creation of 20 or more new jobs or 20,000 square feet or more of new space.
“Ohio continues to attract new
corporate facilities and businesses to invest here,” Gov. Mike Dewine said in a statement. “In Ohio, we have a strong business community that will work alongside new companies who are looking to invest and utilize our skilled workforce.”
For years, Ohio finished second to Texas in terms of projects per person before finally topping the Lone Star State in the 2019 report.
The top economic development projects in Ohio in 2020 included Facebook’s $1 billion data center investment in New Albany.
Amazon also ranked high on Ohio’s list with its data center investments.
Ohio cities large and small scored well in the Site Selection report.
Among big metro areas with a population of at least 1 million, Cincinnati came in seventh, Cleveland ninth and Columbus 10th in terms of projects per person.
Toledo tied for first for total projects among areas with populations between 200,000 and 1 million. Dayton ranked fifth and Akron tied for 10th in the same category.
Toledo finished fifth in terms of projects per person.
Twenty-five small cities in Ohio also showed up in the report, led by Findlay, which finished first for the seventh straight year. mawilliams@dispatch.com @Bizmmarkwilliams