Site Selection magazine also names Kentucky top state for business creation
FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 3, 2015) – The Louisville metro area has earned a Top 10 ranking for economic development and job creation from a leading national publication thanks to a slate of business investments and company expansions and locations in 2014.
Louisville placed ninth in Site Selection Magazine’s ranking of top tier metro areas with population over one million – that was up seven spots from the year before, the largest jump by any metro area in the top ten.
“This ranking is further evidence that we have a solid game plan for job creation and it’s producing strong results,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “We still have much work to do, especially in the area of wage growth, but clearly businesses of all kinds are recognizing our strategic advantages and strong quality of life.”
In 2014, Louisville secured 31 business development projects, which signified more than 5,000 new jobs and $1 billion in investment.
The strong local growth was part of a record year for the state as Site Selection also awarded Kentucky its Governor’s Cup as the top state for new and expanded industry activity.
Fischer noted that many of the business investments announced last year were in healthcare. Louisville is the world leader in lifelong wellness and aging care, with more than 18,000 professionals producing over $48 billion in revenue. The city also is home to the nation’s largest collection of headquarters in nursing home, rehabilitation, assisted living and home health administration.
Significant projects announced in Louisville last year included:
- Kindred, plans to create 500 new full-time jobs and construct a new operations center in Theatre Square;
- Teleperformance, plans to invest $13 million and create 750 new jobs;
- Computershare, plans a new facility and 250 new jobs;
- Confluent Health, moving its national headquarters to Louisville, creating 25 new jobs;
- Aperture Credentialing, additional investment and 30 new jobs;
- Edumedics LLC, expanding its existing corporate headquarters, creating 17 new jobs.
Last year, Kentucky announced more than 350 new location and expansion projects, which are projected to create nearly 15,000 jobs and more than $3.7 billion in new investment. That is the most business investment in Kentucky since the state started recording investment data nearly 30 years ago.
The record business success led Site Selection to award the Commonwealth its Governor’s Cup, which it has presented since 1978 to the state with the most business activity.
“Winning the prestigious Governor’s Cup is a true honor,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “Kentucky works extremely hard to build and maintain relationships with our companies, and we go the extra mile to support their plans for growth. The Governor’s Cup speaks to the dedication of everyone in this state who’s working to build Kentucky’s economy, grow jobs and create success for our industries, our communities and all Kentuckians.”
The ranking by Site Selection, an Atlanta-based publication, is based on a state’s total number of qualified projects as tracked by Conway Data Inc.’s New Plant database. Qualified projects include those that meet at least one of three criteria:
- Involve a capital investment of at least $1 million,
- Create 50 or more jobs, or
- Add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor space.
“Not only did Kentucky win the Governor’s Cup for the most new projects per capita, but it also placed sixth in the ranking of states with the most total qualifying projects,” said Mark Arend, Site Selection’s editor in chief. “This demonstrates to our readership that the Commonwealth is competing quite effectively with states of all sizes for capital investment.”
The article and rankings can be viewed in their entirety at www.siteselection.com.
