2006 Metro Atlanta Rankings
EXPANSION MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE'S “America's 50 Hottest Cities for Business Expansion & Relocation”
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Nashville, TN Phoenix, AZ ATLANTA, GA Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX San Antonio, TX Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC Memphis, TN Jacksonville, FL Knoxville, TN Birmingham, AL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. tie. tie. tie. tie. tie.
FORTUNE MAGAZINE “Top Cities with the Most Fortune 500 Headquarters”
New York Houston ATLANTA Dallas Chicago Charlotte Cincinnati Minneapolis Philadelphia Richmond St. Louis 44 23 14 11 10 7 7 7 7 7 7
Source: Expansion Management magazine poll of 80 site location consultants, November 2005, Released 1.26.2006
Source: Fortune magazine, April 2006 Issue
KPMG'S 2006 COMPETITIVE ALTERNATIVES STUDY Least Expensive Cities
index ATLANTA, GA Northern Virginia (Metro DC) Chicago, IL Phoenix, AZ Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX Detroit, MI Philadelphia, PA Houston, TX Riverside-San Bernardino, CA Las Vegas, NV Seattle, WA Boston, MA San Jose, CA New York, NY 96.4 99.8 100.8 101.1 101.2 102.7 102.8 102.9 103.3 103.6 104.4 107.8 108.5 112.6 rank 1 5 7 8 9 12 13 14 16 17 19 21 22 23 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
SITE SELECTION MAGAZINE’S “Top Ten Metros” By 2005 Number of Projects
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington, TX Houston-Baytown-Sugarland, TX Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI ATLANTA-SANDY SPRINGS-MARIETTA, GA Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN New York-Newark-Edison, NY Cleveland-Elria-Mentor, OH Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MI-WI
Source: Site Selection magazine, March 2006
(U.S. Cities with Population of More than 1.5 million) Notes: Cost index figures were created by measuring the combined impact of 27 cost components that are most likely to vary by location. More than 2,000 individual business scenarios were examined, analyzing more than 30,000 items of data. For comparison purposes, the national average was assigned a cost index of 100.0.
2006 Metro Atlanta Rankings
CHIEF EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE “Best States for Business”
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Texas Nevada North Carolina Florida GEORGIA Arizona Virginia Illinois Indiana Colorado
KIPLINGER/PERSONAL FINANCE “50 Smart Places to Live”
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Nashville Minneapolis/St. Paul Albuquerque ATLANTA Austin Kansas City Asheville Ithaca Pittsburgh Iowa City
Source: Chief Executive magazine, January 2006 CEO Confidence Index
Source: Kiplinger/Personal Finance magazine, June 2006 The top factors were cost of living, homes, crime, health care, climate and environment, and education. Kiplinger’s sent writers to assess the cities that fared best in these categories. They toured with land brokers to assess the housing situation, met with city officials, walked neighborhoods and talked to residents.
CNN MONEY.com/BUSINESS 2.0 “Ten Hot Cities for Job Growth”
Metro Area Projected Job Growth
EWEEK Magazine “Beyond the Valley: 10 Blooming U.S. Cities for Tech”
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Seattle ATLANTA Boston Washington DC Dallas Philadelphia Chicago Orlando Los Angeles Charlotte
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Las Vegas Orlando Riverside Austin Phoenix Jacksonville Tampa Dallas Charlotte ATLANTA
35.5% 28.3% 26.7% 24.7% 24.3% 20.8% 19.7% 19.4% 19.0% 18.8%
Source: Business 2.0 (May), meanwhile, looks only at the nation’s hottest job markets, with an emphasis on so-called knowledge enterprises. The magazine concludes that the Sun Belt is still the dominant region of growth in these jobs, and Atlanta ranks 10th among Sun Belt cities, with special strength in software programmers. “Unemployment for knowledge workers is lower than it has been in years,” Business 2.0 says of the United States. “Increasingly, job hoppers are finding plenty of places to land as the number of job openings has been surging.”
Source: EWEEK magazine, June 15, 2006