(The Center Square) – North Carolina is nationally No. 1 in workforce development, No. 3 in best states for manufacturing projects, No. 6 in best business climate, and placed the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro No. 21 for best tech hub, a leading publication for economic development says.
Site Selection magazine released the rankings this week. It’s another solid showing for varied measurements in a state that is ninth largest at more than 11 million and politically solid purple with patterns favoring both major parties, each of which is dwarfed by the number of people proclaiming unaffiliated status.
“If you’re ready to graduate your company’s operations to the next level on a foundation of skills and talent, North Carolina is a good place to enroll,” writes Adam Bruns, the editor in chief.
Bruns said the publication uses its Conway Projects Database of corporate end-user facility investment projects “to take the measure of regional economic development agencies. So, it only makes sense that any measure of state workforce development takes into account that workforce’s prowess, whether measured by credentials, certificates, and degrees; technical skills and productivity; or something equally important to employee and employer alike: return on investment.”
To that, Site Selection has added metrics on skills and credentials with return on investment and value. Bureau of Labor Statistics workforce productivity measures are also in the mix.
Utah, Illinois, Michigan and California rounded out the top five.
The Tarheel State trailed Texas and South Carolina for the best states for manufacturing projects. In best business climate, Texas was again atop the list followed by Georgia, Florida, Virginia and Tennessee.
North Carolina had been No. 2 behind Texas last year for the best business climate.
The Charlotte area’s No. 21 spot on the tech hub list is a two-spot drop from a year ago. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington swapped places with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria to lead this year. Atlanta was third, same as a year ago.
Investment records were set within a single month last year. Jet Zero, backed by incentives of more than $1.5 billion from North Carolina’s government, promised more than 14,000 jobs and $4.7 billion in capital investment. Guilford County commissioners kicked in another $76 million of incentives.
North Carolina later in June landed one of the Big Five when Amazon said it would invest $10 billion toward its Amazon Web Services data center supply chain. The global technology company, replete with e-commerce, digital streaming and online advertising, said a minimum of 500 jobs in high-tech cloud computing and artificial intelligence are coming to an innovation campus in Richmond County along the South Carolina border.
Such jobs will be data center engineers, network specialists, engineering operations managers, security specialists, and other technical roles.
North Carolina’s Republican majorities in the General Assembly have done a major overhaul to the economic development climate in their 15 years leading on Jones Street. Annual migration numbers from the federal government are testimony to the state’s perennial position among the top three in enticing other Americans to move somewhere between the mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
For 2026, the individual income tax drops to 3.99% from 4.25%, and the corporate rate drops to 2.25% from 2.5%. In 2010, when Republicans took majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time in 140 years since Reconstruction, North Carolinians were on an individual income tax system with rates of 6%, 7% and 7.75%, with potential for a surtax on higher earners, and businesses had a corporate income tax rate of 6.9%.
In 2025, North Carolina was No. 1 for the third time in four years in CNBC’s America’s Top State for Business rankings. Area Development magazine honored with its Platinum Shovel Award to the state.
