Site Selection magazine recently announced that Texas eclipsed Ohio for a first-place finish in the new and expanded 2012 facilities race to claim the Governor’s Cup. Annually, Site Selection magazine compiles data to measure how states and cities rank against each other based on economic-development metrics. Ohio was ranked second in the nation in 2012 after a first-place finish in 2011. Texas posted 761 projects while Ohio came in second with 491 projects, just seven fewer projects than last year’s total of 498. Rounding out the top 5 and providing a strong Midwestern showing in job creation and retention in 2012, Pennsylvania was ranked third with 430 projects, Michigan was ranked fourth with 337 projects and Illinois was ranked fifth with 322 projects.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that Site Selection magazine also announced seven Ohio cities making it into its rankings in the following categories:
- Metropolitan areas with a population of at least 1 million: Cincinnati came in eighth and Columbus finished 10th.
- Metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 to 1 million: Dayton came in first for the third time in the past five years; Akron finished eighth.
- Micropolitan areas (the smallest population category): Findlay, Wooster and Ashtabula all finished in the top 10.
Fourteen other Ohio cities were ranked as top micropolitan areas by number of projects, putting a total of 17 Ohio cities — more than any other state — on the magazine’s list: East Liverpool-Salem (T13), Greenville (T13), New Philadelphia-Dover (T13), Sidney (T13), Defiance (T23), Bellefontaine (T30), Tiffin-Fostoria (T30), Wapakoneta (T30), Cambridge (T45), Fremont (T45), Ashland (T86), Bucyrus (T86), Celina (T86) and Zanesville (T86).
For more, read the 2013 edition of Site Selection magazine and The Columbus Dispatch story.
