Site Selection Magazine announces 2018 top small towns - Entrepreneur Generations

Selecting a site for a new government or business facility can involve both the mundane (population size, demographics, highway access) and the unexpected (an IKEA representative once told this writer that the store looks for, among other things, a certain threshold of locals who subscribe to Food & Wine Magazine). Bringing in new businesses can make a world of difference for small towns; this list from Site Selection Magazine details the top micropolitan areas in the U.S. that were most attractive to site selectors in 2018. Note: micropolitan area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, has a population of 10,000 to 50,000, Gary Daughters reports for Site Selection Magazine.

For the fourth year in a row, Ohio had the most micropolitan areas (17) in the Top 100, and four in the Top 10. "Perhaps most impressive of all, micropolitan Ohio’s 109 qualifying investments dwarfed those of second-place Kentucky, which totaled 40. The remainder of the Top 10 include Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama and Pennsylvania," Daughters reports.

Findlay, Ohio, pop. 41,000, claims the top spot on the list for the fifth year in a row. It's such a powerhouse for bringing in new businesses and expanding existing ones that Tim Mayle, director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, said he's frequently asked what the town's secret is. "What sets Findlay apart is our ability to collaborate within the community to solve problems. We have the ability in Findlay to pull everybody together," Mayle told Daughters.

The town boasts three major repeat investors: Whirlpool, Marathon Petroleum, and Cooper Tire and Rubber Company. Dale Laws, vice president of manufacturing operations for Whirlpool, tyold Daughters that Findlay's can-do spirit sets the town apart: "I’ve seen how people work together to truly try to find the ideal 'win-win' for Findlay . . . It’s been that mindset that has contributed to the great success that Findlay has seen."

The Top 10 list in total, by number of projects:

1. Findlay, Ohio (23)
2. Wooster, Ohio (17)
3. Batavia, N.Y. (13)
4. Shelby, N.C. (12)
5. (tied) Tupelo, Miss. (11)
5. (tied) Ashland, Ohio (11)
7. Cullman, Ala. (10)
8. Defiance, Ohio (9)
9. Wilson, N.C. (8)
10. (tied) Angola, Ind. (7)
10. (tied) Danville, Ky. (7)

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2VHa0zl Site Selection Magazine announces 2018 top small towns - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet