by Mark Arend & Ron Starner
As if to make sure its collection of Site Selection economic development recognitions isn’t missing anything, Texas claims the 2025 Prosperity Cup. This award is about state-level competitiveness in attracting capital investment projects based on a 10-point index of Prosperity Points that reflect facility announcements, capital investment and new jobs tracked Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database and other factors.
Prosperity Points
Following are the criteria used to arrive at final scores determining the competitiveness ranking of the states. The first six criteria are based on project data resident in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database:
- Total new and expanded facilities in 2024
- Total new and expanded facilities in 2024 per 1 million population
- Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2024
- Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities per 1 million population in 2024
- Total new jobs created in 2024
- Total new jobs created in 2024 per 1 million population
- Rank in the corporate real estate executive portion of the 2024 Site Selection Business Climate Ranking (executive Survey)
- State tax climate as ranked by the Tax Foundation 2024
- Number of National Career Readiness Certificates per 1,000 residents aged 18-64, according to ACT — Workforce Development Division, administrator of the ACT Certified Work Ready Communities initiative.
Texas unseated Georgia to win the 2025 Cup just two months after claiming its 13th consecutive Governor’s Cup for total qualified projects in 2024. In November 2024, Site Selection recognized the Lone Star State as having the Top Business Climate in the U.S. If these were the country’s most prestigious horse races, that’s the Triple Crown Trophy.
In March, Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office unveiled a new, five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan that will likely have a leading role in the state’s success by Site Selection standards, and others, going forward. Conway Data Executive Vice President Ron Starner spoke with that office’s executive director, Adriana Cruz, about the new plan and other factors behind Texas’ success. Following are excerpts of that interview.
The state’s new five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan is titled “Bigger. Better. Texas.” What does that mean to you?
CRUZ: The new “Bigger. Better. Texas” Economic Development Strategic Plan is our blueprint to build a stronger Texas of tomorrow. It means that here in Texas, our future is brimming with promise. And although we have experienced extraordinary economic success in the past decade, we are not becoming complacent. We must capitalize on our success and capture the promise of our future economy to maintain our competitive edge in the years ahead. This strategic plan is something that all our economic development partners across the state can rally around. Economic development is a team sport in Texas, and everyone has a role to play in building our future economy. It will take all of us working together to continue to keep Texas the premier place to visit, live, work and grow a business.
What are the main pillars of the plan?
CRUZ: The economic development strategic plan accomplishes a number of objectives, all developed with the broader economic development ecosystem in mind. The plan establishes a unifying vision for the future; identifies new target industry sectors that are expected to drive economic growth and job creation; outlines objectives to advance our state’s global competitiveness; and provides data and recommendations to inform economic development decisions across the state. We are going to continue to build the strongest economy in the nation around four pillars: Business and Industry; Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Workforce; and Infrastructure.
Texas keeps growing at a substantial pace each year. What will Texas look like 10 years from now? Do you have any specific growth projections you can share for the population, economy and jobs?
CRUZ: Our state’s visionary leadership has provided an environment where business and individuals can succeed, which has led to significant economic growth and success across our great state. Looking back at the past two decades, Texas dominated the nation in population growth. In 10 years, we can expect to continue this population growth and will likely reach 40 million in population by 2035. In addition, Texas has had an impressive 10-year GDP growth rate of 38.7%, growing faster than the nation as a whole. I think we can expect to see more record-breaking economic expansion in the years ahead, especially given the diversity of our economy and the strong population trends providing a skilled, diverse and growing talent pool. I think it’s safe to say that the Future is Texas! And working with all of our economic development partners across the state, we’ll continue to build a bigger, better and stronger Texas for generations to come.