Commonwealth of Kentucky
Cabinet for Economic Development

Kentucky Ranks 3rd in the Nation in Site Selection Magazine's Top Micropolitan Area Awards

Frankfort, Ky. -- The tally for Site Selection magazine's annual Micropolitan Awards is in, placing Kentucky 3rd in the nation for highest number of micropolitan areas in the Top 100. The award, formerly called "Top Small Towns" is designed to honor those communities of 50,000 people or fewer for their ability to secure new and expanded corporate facility projects.

"Having 10 of Kentucky's small communities finish so well in new and expanding business activity for 2005 is quite an accomplishment," said Governor Ernie Fletcher. "It speaks highly of the number of quality small towns we have in this state and their ability to compete in a global marketplace."

The ranking is based on a community's total number of qualified projects as tracked by Conway Data Inc.'s New Plant database. Qualified projects include those that involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, create 50 or more jobs or involve new floor space of at least 20,000 square feet.

Finishing in the Top 100 Micropolitan areas were 10 Kentucky communities including: Paducah; Glasgow; Danville; Richmond; Somerset; Corbin; Frankfort; Mount Sterling; Murray; and Union City,TN-KY region.

"Kentucky is privileged to have so many communities throughout the state who understand economic development and what it takes to develop an atmosphere conducive to attracting and expanding business," said Secretary Gene Strong, Cabinet for Economic Development. "I congratulate all those making the Top 100 and look forward to adding to it next year. "

Site Selection publisher Conway Data has been tracking business expansion activity for more than 40 years. Its yearly analyses are regarded by corporate real estate analysts as "the industry scoreboard."

"Finishing in the top three states for the number of micropolitans says that the whole state is doing something right, not just a couple of communities," says Mark Arend, editor of Site Selection. "It says that a significant number of companies want to be in Kentucky and that they are choosing small city locations in addition to the major metros."

In addition to the Top Micropolitan Area Awards, Kentucky also finished 11th in the country in Site Selection magazine"s tally for the annual Governor"s Cup Award, which is awarded to states based on total number of qualified projects in the previous calendar year.

Kentucky has had a strong presence over the years in the publication"s other annual awards as well. Those awards include the annual Competitiveness Award, released each May, which has placed Kentucky in the Top 10 since the award"s debut in 2003 and its annual Business Climate Ranking, released in November, ranked Kentucky 9th in 2005.

"Last year was a strong year for us with more than 17,000 new jobs created and nearly $1.7 billion invested in the commonwealth," said Secretary Strong. "We always look forward to seeing how Kentucky stacks up with other states and are eager to see the results of the Competitiveness Awards in May and Business Climate Rankings in November."

The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development is the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state. New business investment in Kentucky in 2005 totaled nearly $1.7 billion with the creation of just over 17,100 new jobs. Information on available development sites, workforce training, incentive programs, community profiles, small business development and other resources is available at http://www.thinkkentucky.com/.