Once again, North Carolina has come out on top. According to Site Selection magazine, the state is ranked first for economic viability and vitality. It shared the title with Texas last year, but this year took first place alone.
Site Selection awards prosperity points and determines a state’s overall economic competitiveness according to 10 criteria:
- Total new and expanded facilities in 2016
- Total new and expanded facilities in 2016 per 1 million population
- Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2016
- Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities per 1 million population in 2016
- Total new jobs created in 2016
- Total new jobs created in 2016 per 1 million population
- Rank in the corporate real estate executive portion of the 2016 Site Selection Business Climate Ranking
- State tax climate as ranked by the Tax Foundation
- Performance in the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Index
- Number of National Career Readiness Certificates per 1,000 residents aged 18-64, according to ACT – Workforce Development Division, administrator of the ACT Certified Work Ready Communities initiative
Additionally, North Carolina scored well in the 2017 Rich States, Poor States report from the American Legislative Exchange Council Center for State Fiscal Reform. The study weighs each state’s economic competitiveness according to 15 state policy variables, including personal and corporate income tax rates, income tax progressivity, property and sales tax burden, imposition of an estate tax, state minimum wage, workers’ compensation costs, right to work legislation, GDP and nonfarm employment growth, and domestic migration. North Carolina ranked 3rd in economic outlook and 9th in economic performance.
