Ind. rated 9th in nation for economic initiatives

Indiana is following the economic growth trend of the United States.

Indiana ranked ninth in the nation for the number of new economic development projects launched in 2010, according to the Governor’s Cup Awards Program conducted by Site Selection magazine.

The ranking is based on private sector projects. States must have at least $1 billion invested from a corporate entity, 15 new jobs created or 20,000 new square feet of space in a new project or an expansion of an existing company, Site Selection Managing Editor Adam Bruns said.

The economic development ranking is the simplest of the rankings the magazine does throughout the year since it is strictly a tally of the number of qualifying projects, Bruns said.

“It is something we’ve been doing for a long time, and we do every year,” he said. “It is a way of measuring economic development success by states.”

Blair West, director of media relations at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, said Indiana’s placement in the top 10 is a continued pattern.

“Indiana tends to hold its own in this ranking and many other rankings,” she said. “We are glad to still be among the leaders in the nation in economic development.”

The magazine also ranked cities based on new economic development projects.
Indianapolis ranked ninth for major metropolitan areas for new projects.

Anderson, Ind. tied for eighth place among metropolitan areas with a population less than 200,000. Marion, Huntington, Angola, Seymour and Peru, Ind. ranked in the top 100 in the country for micropolitan areas.

“Indiana’s smaller towns are stacking up pretty well against other communities of their size across the nation,” West said. “We are thankful for our partners in economic development in each of those communities and every county throughout the state.”

While the ranking is important to the state, West said Indiana has a much broader goal in economic development.

“We want to attract jobs and companies to the state of Indiana to create more opportunities for Hoosiers,” she said.