KansasKansas has been a lightning rod for ideological conversation, with sharply differing opinions about the growth policies it has pursued in recent years. But even as politicians and pundits have debated the merits or pitfalls of its economic policies, the state’s aviation and distribution sectors have continued to put marks in the “win” column.

As in many states, some of the biggest gains have been promised by Amazon. In the case of Kansas, announced projects in Edgerton and Kansas City promise nearly $300 million in investments and a couple thousand jobs. But the state’s central location and strong logistics infrastructure caught the eye of others, too, continuing a positive trend in distribution and fueling hundreds of new jobs.

The state’s aerospace sector added jobs in its Wichita hub and in nearby Park City, while Triumph Group announced plans to move aircraft-related operations from Missouri to the Kansas community of Edgerton. Meanwhile, the contact center sector, which helped Kansas earn recognition two years ago, garnered a pair of bright headlines for Overland Park, SelectQuote Insurance and Xceligent. SelectQuote has been continually building its Kansas workforce and has outgrown its headquarters facility in Leawood. Company officials said they chose expansion space in the millennial-focused Overland Park Xchange because of its “wow environment.”

NevadaIn a state best known for tourism, Amazon also had Nevada’s biggest single job-creating project of 2016, with an $18 million fulfillment center in North Las Vegas that promises a thousand jobs. The company and its affiliates already employ roughly 5,000 at other Nevada facilities in such places as Las Vegas and Reno, and the new center will focus on the distribution of mid-sized products.

Of course, what makes Nevada so attractive to Amazon also gets the attention of a lot of others in the business of logistics and distribution, and those others also helped make the state an economic success story in 2016. Three other distribution projects in North Las Vegas (The Honest Company and Fanatics, Inc.) and Sparks (Thrive Market, Inc.) are expected to deliver more than 1,200 jobs combined.

Nevada economists say business and professional services will be a key to the future, and in 2016, information technology and back office operations provided economic bright spots. Announcements in this area serve a variety of industries. CML Media, for example, is in the business of mobile-responsive websites for clients, and it plans to create more than 500 jobs in Clark County. Pacific Dental Services, meanwhile, which announced plans for more than 300 jobs in Henderson, handles support operations for dental practices. Food products developments also added flavor to the state’s economy in 2016, with the two biggest projects (Mary’s Gone Crackers and TH Foods, Inc.) promising about 500 jobs.

MethodologyArea Development’s annual Gold and Silver Shovel Awards recognize states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities. We collected information from all 50 states about their top-10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2016 (only those projects that actually had monies invested, “broke ground,” began an expansion, started new hiring, etc. were considered). Based on a combination of weighted factors — including the number of new jobs to be created in relation to the state’s population, the combined dollar amount of the investments, the number of new facilities, the diversity of industry represented — five states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s 2017 Gold Shovels in five population categories: 12+ million, 8+ to 12 million, 5+ to 8 million, 3+ to 5 million, and fewer than 3 million. Runners-up in each of these population categories were awarded 2017 Silver Shovels.