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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

2022 Top States Commentary: Georgia’s Logistics & Infrastructure Attributes Contribute to Its No. 1 Ranking

Its logistical strengths and supply-chain technology leadership are among the reasons consultants ranked Georgia as the No. 1 state for doing business.

Q3 2022
No surprise to me that Georgia takes the top spot here. Georgia is a major, global player in the logistics sector due to its multimodal strengths in aviation, deepwater ports, rail, over-the-road highway network — not to mention the state being a popular landing spot for the reshoring of manufacturing back to the U.S.

UPS — a longtime Boyd logistics client and one of the largest private-sector employers in Georgia — has its headquarters in Atlanta having relocated it from Greenwich, Conn., in 1991. Historically, Atlanta has been known as the logistics hub of the South due to its many early rail lines. We like to say that the UPS head office move to Atlanta made the city’s logistics hub moniker “official.”

Elsewhere in the state, warehousing is especially hot in the Savannah area on the strength of the deepwater port there, the port’s impressive growth in recent years, and relative lack of congestion vis-à-vis ports like LA, Long Beach, and New York/New Jersey. The state’s relatively new inland Appalachian Regional Port in Murray County has been well-received and provides another important gateway to global markets.

Atlanta has also grown into a major global center for supply-chain technology due to its large cluster of corporate headquarters that help develop and manage leading-edge supply-chain technologies. Today, the logistics sector has grown into being Atlanta’s single-largest employer with over a quarter million jobs. Atlanta is also home to top-level research at the world’s largest logistics-related research and education enterprise: the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute.

TOP STATES FOR DOING BUSINESS 2022

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Tennessee
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4. Texas
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Alabama
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8. Ohio
  9. 9. Indiana
  10. 10. Mississippi
  11. 11. Florida
  12. 12. Louisiana
  13. 13. Arizona
  14. 14. Michigan
  15. 15. New York
  16. 16T. California
  17. 16T. Illinois
  18. 18. Kentucky
  19. 19T. Oklahoma
  20. 19T. Utah

Individual Categories

Workforce Development Programs

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Virginia
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4T. Alabama
  5. 4T. Louisiana
  6. 6. Tennessee
  7. 7. North Carolina
  8. 8T. Arizona
  9. 8T. Michigan
  10. 8T. Texas

Overall Cost of Doing Business

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Tennessee
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4. Alabama
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Texas
  7. 7T. Indiana
  8. 7T. Mississippi
  9. 9T. Arizona
  10. 9T. Florida
  11. 9T. Ohio

Site-Readiness Programs

  1. 1. Tennessee
  2. 2. Georgia
  3. 3. South Carolina
  4. 4T. North Carolina
  5. 4T. Ohio
  6. 6. Virginia
  7. 7T. Indiana
  8. 7T. Texas
  9. 9. New York
  10. 10. Alabama

Cooperative & Responsive State Government

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2T. North Carolina
  3. 2T. Tennessee
  4. 4. South Carolina
  5. 5. Ohio
  6. 6. Virginia
  7. 7. Louisiana
  8. 8T. Alabama
  9. 8T. Arizona
  10. 8T. Arkansas
  11. 8T. Michigan
  12. 8T. Mississippi
  13. 8T. Texas

Favorable Regulatory Environment

  1. 1. South Carolina
  2. 2. Georgia
  3. 3T. Alabama
  4. 3T. Tennessee
  5. 5. North Carolina
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Texas
  8. 8. Florida
  9. 9T. Arizona
  10. 9T. Virginia
  11. 10T. Louisiana
  12. 10T. Mississippi

Corporate Tax Structure

  1. 1. Texas
  2. 2. Tennessee
  3. 3. Florida
  4. 4. North Carolina
  5. 5. Nevada
  6. 6T. Georgia
  7. 6T. South Dakota
  8. 8T. Alabama
  9. 8T. Indiana
  10. 8T. Utah

Business Incentives Programs

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. South Carolina
  3. 3. Tennessee
  4. 4. Ohio
  5. 5. Alabama
  6. 6. Indiana
  7. 7. Virginia
  8. 8T. Mississippi
  9. 8T. North Carolina
  10. 10T. Kentucky
  11. 10T. Louisiana
  12. 10T. Texas

Competitive Labor Environment

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2T. Texas
  3. 2T. Tennessee
  4. 4. North Carolina
  5. 5. South Carolina
  6. 6T. Arizona
  7. 6T. Michigan
  8. 8T. Ohio
  9. 8T. Virginia
  10. 10. Alabama

Logistics & Infrastructure

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2. Virginia
  3. 3T. Ohio
  4. 3T. Texas
  5. 5. Indiana
  6. 6. South Carolina
  7. 7. Tennessee
  8. 8. Illinois
  9. 9. North Carolina
  10. 10. Florida

Access to Capital & Funding

  1. 1. California
  2. 2. Texas
  3. 3. New York
  4. 4T. Massachusetts
  5. 4T. Virginia
  6. 6. Illinois
  7. 7. Georgia
  8. 8T. Michigan
  9. 8T. North Carolina
  10. 10T. Colorado
  11. 10T. Tennessee

Available Real Estate

  1. 1. Georgia
  2. 2T. South Carolina
  3. 2T. Texas
  4. 4. Tennessee
  5. 5. Ohio
  6. 6. North Carolina
  7. 7T. Alabama
  8. 7T. Indiana
  9. 9. Michigan
  10. 10T. California
  11. 10T. Florida
  12. 10T. Illinois

Energy Availability & Costs

  1. 1T. Georgia
  2. 1T. Tennessee
  3. 3T. Alabama
  4. 3T. North Carolina
  5. 5. Mississippi
  6. 6T. Louisiana
  7. 6T. South Carolina
  8. 8T. Iowa
  9. 8T. New York
  10. 8T. Ohio
  11. 8T. Oklahoma
  12. 8T. Texas
  13. 8T.

Speed of Project Permitting

  1. 1. Alabama
  2. 2T. Georgia
  3. 2T. South Carolina
  4. 4. Tennessee
  5. 5T. Mississippi
  6. 5T. Texas
  7. 7T. Arizona
  8. 7T. Indiana
  9. 7T. Louisiana
  10. 10. Virginia

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