Tennessee Near the Top of Site Selection Rankings

Site Selection Magazine has ranked Tennessee second in its annual list of business-friendly states. It’s a jump up from last year’s sixth place finish, and the state’s highest ever position on the list.

The ranking is based on a tally of how many substantial new business facilities are coming to the state-like the Volkswagen plant that will be built in Chattanooga- combined with a survey of executives.

Or as editor Mike Arend puts it-

“Fifty percent objective data and fifty percent subjective-based on these corporate real estate executives’ actual experience of investing in projects around the country.”

The executives were asked to simply rank the states numerically; they didn’t have to give an explanation of why they liked one more than another. But they did also rank the factors they consider in choosing a site. The top issue is a state’s red tape-is it easy to get the necessary permits, and how strictly would the business be regulated? Existing infrastructure and the skills of a local work force also rank highly.

Tennessee came second only to North Carolina. Alabama and Texas tied for third place.