 Contact:Adam Bruns, Editor in Chief (770) 325-3491 adam.bruns@siteselection.com 6625 The Corners Parkway, Suite 200 Press Release Site Selection Publishes America’s Best Counties, Sustainability and Startup Ecosystem Rankings; Salutes Top Economic Development Groups
“Harris County ranks No. 1 among all 3,144 U.S. counties or parishes in economic development performance,” writes Site Selection EVP Ron Starner, “and the gap between first and second place isn’t close.” The Lone Star State claims four of the top 20 counties (three in the top five), while North Carolina (led by No. 8 Wake County), claims three. Per-capita county rankings are led by a tie for No. 1 between Simpson County, Kentucky, and Williams County, North Dakota, followed by Butts County, Georgia, located halfway between Atlanta and Macon, at No. 3. The rankings are based on total points awarded to counties based on number of projects between January 2025 and March 2026, capital investment and jobs created according to project data resident in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database. In the new issue themed around technology and innovation, Site Selection also has released the 17th edition of the publication’s annual Sustainability Rankings, based on unique sets of criteria (below) applied to countries, U.S. states and U.S. metro areas. This year the United States, Spain and Ireland top the magazine’s list of Top 10 countries. California overtakes Texas as No. 1 among U.S. states, followed by Texas, Colorado, Arizona and North Carolina. And metro Austin, Texas, repeats once again as No. 1 among U.S. metros for the fifth straight year, just ahead of the Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Silicon Valley and metro Denver. (See full Top 10s below.) Site Selection’s annual Sustainability Rankings are based on metrics that encompass LEED-certified buildings worldwide, green incentives, corporate end-user facility projects in sectors with the most cleantech potential and data from millions of square feet of buildings served by commercial real estate ESG platform Measurabl and the Center for Active Design, which oversees the Fitwel healthy building certification standard. The rankings also cross-reference the magazine’s corporate facility investments database with deep research into companies’ corporate social responsibility profiles from rankings partner CSRHub to see where high-CSR firms have the most facility investment activity. Elsewhere in the July 2026 issue: fresh analysis of the world’s top global startup hubs, derived from an index of three data sets, reveals the metro Bay Area of California to be the top global startup ecosystem, followed by New York, London, Los Angeles and Boston. And the annual Mac Conway Awards salute the top 20 regional economic development efforts in the United States based on an index of Conway Data/Site Selection corporate facility project, investment and jobs numbers across the country (cumulative and per capita) last year; the 2026 Milken Institute Best Performing Cities Index; the 2025 Talent Attraction Scorecard from Lightcast; and the most recent nationwide Most Dynamic Metros report released by Heartland Forward. The July issue also features a close look at IMD’s latest Smart City Index (including an interview with an index co-author) and a wide range of data center coverage ranging from an exclusive adaptation of recent Brookings Institutions research to Tractus analysis of data centers in China, the sudden data center bonanza in a rural Missouri county and what stymied redevelopment of a Maine paper mill into a data center. Topical reports address workforce housing, site development, the skilled trades labor shortage and the value to be found at research & science parks. Industry reports take on aerospace, food & beverage, advanced manufacturing and semiconductors. And a special contribution from Paulsen examines why trust and community engagement matter in rural site selection. International spotlights include an exclusive contribution from former Site Selection staff member Bre Rogers in Senegal; a regional breakdown of the U.S.-Mexico border corridor by Avison Young’s Carl Quesinberry; the mass timber and energy scene in Atlantic Canada and a new energy storage project launched in Finland. Regional coverage includes which regions are attracting the most investment along the I-15 corridor; the TexasEDConnection Intelligence Report; area spotlights on the Rocky Mountain states and Upstate New York; state spotlights on Louisiana, Wisconsin and West Virginia; and Site Selection Investment Profiles for Tennessee Valley Authority; Montgomery County, Maryland; and Abilene, Texas. Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Data Inc., delivers expansion planning information to a qualified circulation of 42,000 executives of fast-growing firms. Now in its 73rd year of publication, Site Selection is also available via Site Selection Online. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Conway Data, publisher of Site Selection magazine and industry newsletters, in 2017 was recognized as Georgia International Small Business of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Conway Data has been a trusted advisor to corporations, government economic development and investment promotion agencies around the world since 1954. Conway Data also manages the Industrial Asset Management Council. (Note: All circulation information is publisher’s own data unless otherwise specified). 
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