County Supervisor Thomas Galvin is very proud of this honor. He says he “has utilized his private sector experience by cutting taxes, reducing spending, and allowing businesses to thrive. It’s a team effort and Maricopa County shares the credit with GPEC, Greater Phoenix Chamber, and Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.”
By Mark Arend | Site Selection Magazine
Site Selection’s recognition of America’s Best Counties for economic development performance on one level is a measure of the capital investment they attracted in 2023 and through the first quarter of this year. On another level, it’s an opportunity to credit counties and their personnel who work tirelessly to attract projects and to help grow investment already in place.
These rankings are based on total points awarded to counties based on number of projects between January 2023 and March 2024, capital investment and jobs created according to project data resident in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database.
Counties with high project totals in most cases are parts of large metros — Phoenix, Houston, Columbus (Ohio), Atlanta and Dallas, for example, are the main population centers and workforce suppliers of their respective counties, making the top five according to points awarded.
Not all counties per capita have that advantage, but the projects they win are no less impactful. In fact, they can be more so. Rural Haywood County, Tennessee’s population is under 18,000, according to the 2020 census, but it’s in the top 10 for per capita performance.
County Programs Are Recognized
For the past 54 years, the National Association of Counties has been bestowing NACo Achievement Awards in 18 categories to U.S. counties across a range of functions, including community and economic development. In that category alone, Maricopa County, Arizona, our first-place county for total projects, won seven Achievement Awards, including one for In Demand Industry Prioritization. It prioritizes funding and workforce training for health care, construction, advanced manufacturing, transportation and logistics, IT and finance.
