Investor Watch: June 22, 2026

A $1.3 billion investment from Amazon in the UK is just the beginning. India’s Supreme Nonwoven establishes its first U.S. facility in North Carolina’s Davidson County. Northrop Grumman will make new spacecraft components at a new $20 million facility in Maryland.

UTAH

About 16 miles north of Salt Lake City, leaders in the city of Farmington have spent over 20 years carefully navigating the development of a 550-acre “donut hole” in the heart of town.

ASSOCIATION UPDATE

A letter from the chair, reporting on IAMC’s 2026 Spring Forum host community of Little Rock, and more about future IAMC events.

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Midtown Manhattan
Photo by Julienne Schaer copyright NYC Tourism + Conventions

The 2026 America’s Best Cities report and ranking of all 393 U.S. metro areas has been published, revealing the following top 10 based on perceptions of “livability, lovability and prosperity”:

1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Miami
5. San Francisco
6. Seattle
7. Las Vegas
8. Dallas
9. Houston
10. Boston

On the outside looking in? Austin, San Diego and Atlanta in positions 11 through 13. “Las Vegas (#7) remains the most striking example of perception-driven competitiveness in the ranking: #248 in livability performance, #9 in livability perception, a gap built almost entirely on the strength of a global entertainment brand,” the report states.

“Americans are now considering 115 distinct cities as top-three choices for where to live, visit, or work — up from 99 just two years ago,” reports Resonance, the organization that publishes the report. “That widening consideration set collides with a shrinking talent pool: The Congressional Budget Office’s latest projection shows the smallest population gain the agency has ever published, and net international migration fell 54% in a single year.”

According to the report, 11 metros improved their national perception across all three pillars over the past three years: New Orleans, Honolulu, Kansas City, Santa Fe, San Jose, Greenville (South Carolina), Richmond, Cleveland, Salem (Massachusetts), Flagstaff and Ann Arbor.

How do these best cities align with top counties? Find out in “America’s Best Counties” in Site Selection’s July issue.

Site Selection featured the 2024 edition of America’s Best Cities in June 2024. See what’s changed and what has not.

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The Church of St. Lorenzo is the best known landmark in Soglio, Switzerland, near the border with Italy.
Photo courtesy of Switzerland Tourism

Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania did its own perception-based survey to produce the 2026 Best Countries Index. “A strong country brand also helps attract FDI and top talent,” the school states. “The newly released 2026 Best Countries Index ranks 85 countries on 73 attributes across categories including entrepreneurship, openness for business, quality of life, power, adventure and cultural influence. Wharton marketing professor David Reibstein led the survey-based report together with WPP and its brand analytics platform BAV.”

Switzerland was ranked No. 1, followed by Japan, Sweden, Canada and Australia. Despite a No. 1 ranking in the category of “Agility,” the United States came in at No. 11 overall, brought down by a ranking of No. 72 in the category “Open for Business.”

Among other findings, “more than 85% of Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Nigeria and Vietnam seem to believe that the benefits of AI will outweigh the threats; China managed 84%,” the report states. “ ‘The countries that are developing are not as threatened by AI,’ said Reibstein. But that optimism towards AI was relatively subdued in the U.S. (64%), the U.K. (61%), Canada (56%), France (53%) and Australia (52%).”

Photo of Gordie Howe International Bridge courtesy of Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority

“The opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge — built and paid for by Canada — was postponed last week at the request of the Trump administration,” reported the Toronto Star on Saturday, quoting numerous industry sources whose impatience is growing. The most recent statement from the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority came from Interim CEO and Chief Legal Officer Chuck Andary on June 11: “The Gordie Howe International Bridge will be a vital economic link for Canada and the United States,” he said. “As we work towards an opening date, we are taking a collaborative approach, reflecting our shared ambition for this trade corridor. Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues. We appreciate the efforts of workers on both sides of the border to get the bridge to its current state of readiness.”

The bridge improves on the currently used Ambassador Bridge by having six traffic lanes instead of four. The complex includes 24 primary inspection lanes in Canada (16 commercial secondary inspection bays) and 36 primary inspection lanes in the United States (28 commercial secondary inspection bays). See the Detroit Regional Chamber’s fact sheet about the need for the new bridge and what it will mean for cross-border commerce.