 Contact: Adam Bruns, Editor in Chief, Head of Publications (770) 325-3491 adam.bruns@siteselection.com 6625 The Corners Parkway, Suite 200
Press Release Site Selection Names Global Groundwork Index Leaders, Top Utilities in Economic Development and Canada’s Best Locations
Top Utilities in Economic Development Utilities are a foundational element to U.S. infrastructure, which is why Site Selection’s Top U.S. Utilities in Economic Development (see list below) appears in this same issue. Based on analysis of corporate end-user project activity in 2024 in those utilities’ territories, the annual exercise incorporates facility investment project totals and calculates those projects’ jobs and capital investment numbers on a cumulative and per-capita basis, Site Selection also welcomed questionnaire responses about the utilities’ website tools and data, and innovative programs and incentives for business. For the second year in a row, the citations for this elite group are followed by a companion feature sure to get corporate readers’ attention: How utility economic developers are responding to record demand for large power loads amid a glut of data center, semiconductor and other megaprojects. “The Top Utilities we named this year earned the honor due to their economic development teams’ outstanding efforts connecting to business and community leaders as well as to power sources,” says Editor in Chief Adam Bruns of a feature Site Selection has published since 1999. “What they hear and what we hear from those leaders is that power provision is top of mind.” In this year’s edition of Canada’s Best Locations, based on Site Selection’s exclusive, proprietary project data tracking corporate end-user facility investment activity, the business publication’s Canadian Competitiveness Award once again recognizes Ontario as the most competitive province in a competitive nation, followed by British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Metro areas from Halifax to Vancouver and Québec City to Calgary populate Site Selection’s annual Canada’s Best Locations list of top Canadian economic development groups (see full lists below), with 11 of the 20 regions in Ontario. The strong performance of municipalities within these regions is also noted, including such communities as Oakville, Vaughan and Markham in Ontario and Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond in Greater Vancouver. Managing Editor Kelly Barraza documents strong investment trends across a number of sectors, buttressed by the recently passed One Canadian Economy Act, which aims to remove interprovincial trade barriers and advance projects of national interest. This select group is determined by examining total corporate facility projects and their associated capital investment and job creation numbers over a period from June 2024 through May 2025. The projects qualified for Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database (at least $1 million invested, at least 20 new jobs created or at least 20,000 new sq. ft. of space) are evaluated on both a cumulative and per-capita basis. The new 226-page issue of Site Selection also includes features on transit-oriented development, quality of life and outdoor recreation; and industry reports on logistics & distribution (featuring new Cushman & Wakefield insights by special arrangement), business process outsourcing (with exclusive insights from OCO Global), advanced materials and rare earth operations. International coverage examines whether Vietnam has attained status as the new Asian tiger, Mexico’s investment in port infrastructure and a selection of projects from Malaysia to Norway in World Reports. The issue features a special report on North Carolina and its recovery from Hurricane Helene. In addition to the Grand Junction, Colorado, Intelligence Report, the September issue also includes regional and state spotlights on Texas, California, the I-95 Corridor, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Arkansas, Nevada, Idaho, Massachusetts, the Upper Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and Idaho. The September issue also includes Site Selection Investment Profiles about San Bernardino County, California; Consumers Energy; the Country of Georgia and the Leduc Region in Alberta, Canada. Two resource guides put Site Selection’s corporate readers in direct contact with economic development organizations across Canada and with utility economic development departments. Site Selection magazine, the leading publication covering global corporate real estate strategy and economic development, is in its 72nd year of publication, with a qualified circulation of more than 41,800* corporate end users in print, in addition to publishing all of its material at siteselection.com. Global corporate expansion experts Conway Data Inc. — publisher of Site Selection, state economic development guides under its Custom Content Publishing Division, and the Site Selection Investor Watch, Project Bulletin and Snapshot newsletters, has been a trusted source of business intelligence to corporations, government economic development and investment promotion agencies around the world since 1954. Conway Data also manages the Atlanta-based Industrial Asset Management Council, a professional association of corporate real estate executives, economic developers and commercial real estate service providers. *December 2024; all circulation information is publisher’s own data unless otherwise specified. 2025 Global Groundwork Index Rankings Top 20 U.S. States
Methodology: Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on Conway Projects Database projects, project-affiliated job creation and project-affiliated capital expenditure, Jan. 2021 through July 1, 2025. Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on project and funding data from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Maps Dashboard. Retrieved from https://d2d.gsa.gov/report/bipartisaninfrastructure- law-bil-maps-dashboard) Top 10 U.S. Metros
Methodology: Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on Conway Projects Database projects, project-affiliated job creation and project-affiliated capital expenditure, Jan. 2021 through July 1, 2025. Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on project and funding data from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Maps Dashboard. Retrieved from https://d2d.gsa.gov/report/bipartisaninfrastructure- law-bil-maps-dashboard) Top 10 International Countries (combined infrastructure and corporate end-user project investment strength)
Methodology: Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on Conway Projects Database projects, Jan. 2021 through July 1, 2025, and cumulative and per-capita calculations based on OECD infrastructure funding data by country retrieved July 2025. 2025 Top Utilities in Economic Development (alphabetical order)
2025 Canadian Competitiveness Award (most competitive province)
2025 Canada’s Best Locations (Top 20 regions, presented alphabetically by leading provinces)
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