Area Development
{{RELATEDLINKS}}It is not surprising to see Georgia rank as the Top State for Doing Business. Georgia places strong in overall cost of doing business and has a diverse workforce. Millennials are now driving the workforce equation, and their decision to call Southern States home has had a positive impact on the corporate and tech sector growth throughout the region. The Georgia difference has been that its longstanding corporate citizens have become team players in economic development. Georgia has built a playbook to bring business leaders to the forefront of economic development, and this collaboration of the private and public sectors has wooed companies such as NCR and Newell Rubbermaid.

In addition to economic development efforts, Georgia offers a highly educated labor market, affordable housing and office space, and access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport. The city of Atlanta sits at the intersection of three major interstate highways, with robust railroad access and the fourth-largest shipping container port just a few hours away in Savannah. This mobility makes the state attractive for all asset types.

However, Georgia’s competitors are not sitting back and watching Georgia grow without a fight. Georgia’s playbook has been adopted by all of the states ranked in the top 10. Specifically, these states are listening to the marketplace and providing what is most important for business — a cooperative state government and strong workforce development for an evolving workforce. They realize that when companies make location decisions, time is money and the quicker you can get them to the ribbon-cutting, the better, because this translates to profit. This is why the South continues to outpace the rest of the country when it comes to a favorable business environment.