Springfield named top city for business recruitment

Springfield ranked 12th on the list, above No. 13 Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., and behind No. 11 Albuquerque, N.M. The top three mid-size metros for recruitment and attraction were Canton-Massillon, Ohio; Huntsville, Ala.; and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark., respectively.

Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz., was the top large metro for recruitment and attraction, and St. Joseph – a city of about 73,000 north of Kansas City – was the top small metro, according to the magazine.

Expansion Management teamed up with the National Policy Research Council to determine which cities were the most successful in expanding the local economy by attracting outside companies. The analysis reviewed relocation decisions by 19 million companies over the course of eight years.

“There’s probably not a better vote of confidence than knowing that, when faced with a decision of where in the entire United States to locate a new facility or branch office, the consensus of millions of business executives was to choose these locations for a significant business investment,” said Bill King, the magazine’s chief editor, in a news release.