Employers & Industry
Area Development magazine has ranked Georgia the No. 1 state for doing business for the 13th consecutive year, the Georgia Department of Economic Development announced September 23. The ranking reflects how site-selection consultants view the state as a place to invest. It is not a measure of jobs, wages or payroll growth.
How the ranking works
According to the state’s announcement, the 2026 Top States for Doing Business rankings are scored across 15 categories based on input from approximately 50 site-selection consultants nationwide. Georgia placed first in categories including access to skilled manufacturing labor, cooperative and responsive government, and overall speed to market. The state also pointed to its Rural Site Development Initiative, which helps communities prepare industrial sites.
“What continues to distinguish Georgia is the breadth of its performance — ranking among the top states across nearly every location factor year after year,” Area Development president Dennis Shea said in the release. Rough Draft Atlanta, publishing Capitol Beat’s coverage, placed the ranking alongside recent projects such as Pirelli’s planned $1.2 billion expansion in Rome and Siemens’ proposed Jackson County facility.
Why consultants matter
Site-selection consultants help companies narrow a list of possible locations long before a public announcement. A strong reputation with that group can keep a state in contention for projects. That is useful to employers weighing an expansion, and it can reduce friction in the early stages of a search.
What the ranking does not measure
The survey is a professional judgment about location factors. It does not count projects, jobs, wages or payroll growth, and different industries and regions of the state can face very different labor conditions even when Georgia scores well overall. Atlanta labor-market data, including metro employment and unemployment, should be read separately.
For workers, the more consequential evidence comes later: which companies commit capital, where the facilities go, what occupations they need, what they pay and when hiring actually begins. The test for Georgia’s job economy is whether its reputation keeps converting into completed facilities and sustained hiring. Those outcomes are best tracked employer by employer rather than inferred from the ranking itself.
Sources
- Georgia Department of Economic Development, “Georgia Remains No. 1 for Business,” September 23, 2026. https://georgia.org/press-releases/2026/georgia-remains-no-1-business
- Rough Draft Atlanta (Capitol Beat), “Georgia maintains No. 1 rank for doing business for 13th year in a row,” September 24, 2026. https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/09/24/georgia-top-business-state-13-years/
Featured photo: The Hanwha Q CELLS solar module plant in Dalton, Georgia, in 2019. Shown as an example of a Georgia manufacturing investment; the plant is not cited in the ranking. Photo: Q CELLS, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped from the original.
