Area Development, the leading site selection and facility planning publication, announces the results of its 2023 Top States for Doing Business survey of location consultants. According to the results, the Top 10 States for Doing Business are Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, Virginia, and Mississippi, 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 14 categories that impact companies’ location and facility plans. The states were ranked based on their number of mentions in each category — weighted by the diversity of categories in which they were mentioned.

“Area Development’s Top States for Doing Business Survey polls selected site location consultants who are responsible for their clients’ location and expansion decisions that each year result in billions of dollars in capex, millions of square feet in new construction, and thousands of new U.S. jobs,” said Publisher & President Dennis J. Shea.

For the tenth year in a row, Georgia ranks first among the states, ranking #1 for its overall cost of doing business, business incentives programs, competitive labor market, workforce training programs, energy availability and costs, logistics and infrastructure, and cooperative and responsive state/local government.

Ranking second overall, South Carolina ranks first for the related factors of available real estate, site-readiness programs, and speed of project permitting. And third-ranked Tennessee is in the #2 spot for energy availability and costs as well as cooperative and responsive state/local government.

Ohio is first for its water availability, Florida is in the #1 spot for its corporate tax structure, and Alabama leads for its favorable regulatory environment. Although California does not rank among the top 20 states overall, it continues to lead when it comes to access to capital and funding.

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/top-states.

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.

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