South Carolina and North Carolina are the best states in the country for manufacturing, according to a new ranking by Site Selection Group.
South Carolina took the top spot on the 2022 Best States for Manufacturing list; North Carolina came in at No. 2.
Their success is due in large part to favorable demographics and migration patterns, a strong manufacturing presence, low cost of doing business, access to consumer bases and proximity to major ports, according to Site Selection Group.
Chester County was ranked the No. 1 county in the Charlotte metro, with 46% of the workforce in manufacturing. The county also took top honors for manufacturing job growth.
Site Selection Group is a full service location advisory, economic incentives and real estate services firm that helps manufacturing companies find the optimal location by employing an objective top-down approach to site selection. This top-down select process requires the application of innovative analyses and filters until the most competitive locations are identified.
The firm uses a weighted model that can score and rank candidate geographies based on pertinent site selection variables. Each year, Site Selection Group utilizes the model to score and rank states based on their competitiveness for corporate investment (Best States for Manufacturing).
This year, rather than simply scoring states, the firm took a more granular approach by scoring and ranking every metropolitan and micropolitan area in the lower 48 states based on key variables important to manufacturing projects. Site Selection Group then averaged the scores of every MSA within each state to produce a state score.
A company’s ability to hire and retain a qualified workforce, as well as its ability to receive and ship goods in a cost-effective and timely manner are typically the most influential factors that drive final site selection decisions, experts at the firm explained. Business environment, regulatory climate, utilities, infrastructure, real estate and economic incentives also play an important role in the process. The optimal location for a project is one that has a good balance of these characteristics and no critical deficiencies, according to the firm’s experts.
Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia rounded out the top 5.
