Site selection activity is up, and projects are moving faster. The margin for an unprepared community has never been thinner.

After evaluating more than 500 sites across 28 states in 2025 alone, a pattern is clear: The communities that win projects aren't always the ones with the best assets. They're the ones that know their assets cold — and can articulate them under pressure to a consultant who may have visited five other communities that same week.

So what does readiness actually look like? At SDG, five factors drive nearly every client's location decision, in the order in which they tend to eliminate communities from consideration.

1. Do you have a site or building?

This one sounds obvious. It isn't. The supply of market-ready industrial property has never been more out of balance with demand. A recent search for an existing building with prior pharmaceutical use went out to 17 states — and came back with seven candidates. Seven. The best sites and buildings are being snapped up quickly, and what's left is often a C or D option.

The question for every EDO is not just what's in your portfolio today, but what's next. If a prospect came in tomorrow and took everything available, is there a pipeline behind it? Site development can take years. Investment in land, infrastructure and due diligence needs to be continuous, not reactive. Always be developing the next property.

2. Can you meet the project's logistics and utility needs?

A site that can't meet a company's power, water or transportation requirements isn't really a site. And right now, utilities are under more strain than at any point in recent memory. Demand from data centers, AI infrastructure, domestic manufacturing investment and electrification is pushing grids to their limits — and it's not getting easier.

Every EDO should be able to answer clearly and specifically: What is our available power capacity? What are our water rates and reserves? What does our transportation infrastructure support? If there are constraints, is there a plan — with a timeline and funding in place — to address them?

Companies can work around limitations. They can't work around uncertainty.

3. Is the workforce there — and is more coming?

Talent availability isn't a soft factor. It's a hard filter. And the structural pressures on the American labor market aren't easing. An aging population is tightening labor availability, while changing immigration patterns and other demographic shifts continue to reshape the workforce.

What companies need to know isn't just the current headcount — again, it's the pipeline. Are community colleges and technical programs producing the skills needed for targeted industries? Is existing industry satisfied with the workforce programs in place, or are there gaps companies have been quietly working around — or, worse, gaps the community doesn't know exist?

The best evidence of a strong future workforce is a solid relationship between economic developers and their education partners, with regular, candid conversations about what's working and what isn't.

4. Do you understand your financial case?

Cost competitiveness matters, but at this stage of the process, it's table stakes rather than a differentiator. What sets communities apart is the ability to present their financial case clearly: land costs, utility rates, tax implications, cost of living, health care and housing.

Incentive policies also deserve scrutiny. Many were written for a different era — designed around large job counts in fixed locations, before remote work, advanced manufacturing and compressed project timelines became the norm. If an approval process takes six months, that's a liability, not an incentive.

It's also important to understand which incentives are most valuable to a particular prospect. Is speed to market the challenge? Consider expedited permitting and a dedicated project implementation specialist. Are upfront development costs the obstacle? Site preparation grants may matter more. Is long-term operating cost the concern? Property tax abatements may carry greater value.

Pair the solution with the site location challenge.

5. Do people feel wanted?

This one is harder to quantify, but that doesn't make it less real. When a company visits a community, its representatives aren't just evaluating infrastructure. They're evaluating a potential long-term partner.

Is this a place that wants us here?

That question gets answered in dozens of small ways throughout a site visit: the preparation, the coordination, the follow-through and the tone. On one of our current projects, the community that may look "best" on paper is difficult to work with and could ultimately be cut from consideration because of its lack of responsiveness and overall attitude.

It's the factor that can break a tie. Sometimes, it's the deciding one.

The market is moving. The communities that are ready — really ready — are the ones that can answer all five of these questions without hesitation.