Why Are Companies Choosing Georgia?

Daily headlines announce that large customers, like data centers and heavy manufacturing facilities, are choosing Georgia as a place to locate and grow. This leaves many residents and neighbors asking, “Why are these companies choosing Georgia?” and “What does this mean for our communities?”

Throughout my career in economic development, I’ve witnessed the answers to these questions shift as manufacturers and emerging industries, including data centers, have new needs for their facilities and businesses that reflect changes in workforce, infrastructure, technology, or market conditions—often referred to as site selection factors or requirements in economic development.

Now more than ever, many of these same business leaders are looking to Georgia as a state that meets or exceeds the factors critical to their business and ultimately choosing Georgia to grow their business. And in turn, these businesses are benefiting Georgia. Industry locations and expansions can help grow the commercial and industrial tax base in local communities and help support public services and infrastructure while creating employment and career opportunities for hardworking Georgians today, future graduates, and skilled tradespeople.

For more than a decade, Georgia has been ranked a Top State for Doing Business by Area Development magazine by consistently meeting or exceeding the factors that matter most to its leading industries like available labor force and site readiness to responsive state and local governments.

The coordinated effort by the state, local communities, utility providers, and other stakeholders to utilize and promote these strengths has resulted in more than $163 billion in new capital investment and more than 307,000 jobs, reported by the Georgia Department of Economic Department over the past 10 years.  

Georgia ranks high on many of these factors, notably, our location and transportation network, available workforce and talent pipeline, and reliable energy.

Georgia’s People Help Attract New Businesses to the State

When a company is expanding, one of its most critical questions is whether it will have the workforce needed to build the facility, operate from day one, and support it for the long term.

For Georgia’s top industries, the answer to those questions is, “Yes.”

With a population around 11.3 million, a 5.5 percent increase since the 2020 Census, Georgia is the eighth most populated state in the country and one of the fastest-growing states when it comes to population. During periods of low unemployment, access to an available labor market is critical for industries planning their near and long-term operations.

Beyond population growth, Georgia offers a skilled and educated workforce readily suited to meet the personnel needs for a variety of roles in manufacturing, professional services, and technology. Georgia boasts a skilled and available workforce because workforce development starts early with Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) integrated into the public school system as well as classroom instruction, proactively aligned with the needs of local and regional industries.

Students in Georgia’s high schools have more than 150 career pathways available to them from advanced manufacturing and logistics, to health care and information technology. Students are introduced to high-demand careers and prepared for them through work-based learning and technical organizations. In the 2024-2025 school year:

• More than 712,000 students participated in CTAE programs.
• 71 percent of high school students and 67 percent of middle school students were engaged in CTAE pathways.
• More than 213,000 students participated in Career and Technical Student Organizations.
• More than 26,000 students participated in work-based learning.

Additionally, students in Georgia have options for continuing their education and skill development after high school. The state is home to two of the top 20 public universities in the United States while the Technical College System of Georgia includes 22 colleges, 88 campuses, and more than 600 programs, according to Georgia’s Student Advantage.

But Georgia does not stop at traditional education pathways. Consistently ranked as a top workforce program in the country, Georgia Quick Start supports businesses and residents who need specific skills and experience to begin work in a new or expanding facility. Widely considered one of the state’s most impactful discretionary incentives, Georgia Quick Start provides customized workforce training for companies that invest in Georgia and create jobs. 

Georgia’s Strategic Location Helps Attract Business

Georgia’s geographic location is also a benefit to help businesses move people and products efficiently by land and sea, with strong access to import and export channels for raw materials and finished goods. This includes:

• 80 percent of Americans are within a two-day drive of Georgia.
• More than 4,600 miles of active rail and two Class I railroads, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern, create the Southeast’s most extensive rail system.
• Approximately 10,000 feet of contiguous berth space at the Port of Savannah, making it America’s largest single container terminal.
• More than 600,000 tons of cargo move annually through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is a cornerstone of Georgia’s logistics advantage and a major economic engine for the Southeast. Established in 1945 to operate state-owned facilities during the post-World War II economic boom, GPA began with deep-water terminals in Savannah and Brunswick. Over time, those ports were connected by highways and railroads that became vital arteries of international trade, linking Georgia to trading partners around the world. Today, GPA has grown into one of the largest and most efficient port authorities in the United States, with ongoing plans to enhance its capabilities.

Over the next decade, GPA plans to invest $5 billion in infrastructure to support continued growth in Georgia and across the Southeast, furthering its importance as a major economic engine.

Land and sea are not the only modes of transportation supporting Georgia industries. Many residents know Atlanta has one of the world’s busiest airports for passengers, but it is also one of the world’s busiest airports by volume.

Each day, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport transports general commercial shipments, such as consumer products and goods, as well as time-sensitive materials, including medical devices and manufacturing components. In 2025, those shipments amounted to more than 640,000 metric tons of cargo being transported.

Manufacturers, office headquarters, and technology businesses alike are attracted to Georgia because of its robust and reliable network that can move people and products with ease.

Reliable and Affordable Energy and Attracting Business to Georgia

While strategic location and workforce have consistently ranked high in site selection decisions, energy availability has steadily climbed to the top of the list of critical factors and criteria business leaders and consultants consider in site selection.

The recent increased emphasis on energy availability coincides with growth in the digital economy, data storage demand, and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), which have accelerated the development of the data center industry. This industry relies heavily on available and reliable energy sources to fuel its facilities and the products and services they support.

As a state-regulated, vertically-integrated utility that owns and operates all parts of the energy delivery system from generation to distribution, Georgia Power has worked with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to plan for the needs of these industries and other large-power users, including manufacturers.

Companies choosing and building in Georgia can move forward with confidence knowing the state plans diligently for residential and small commercial power needs alongside those of heavy industrial customers. This ongoing proactive planning approach is through the Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a 20-year energy production plan filed every three years with the PSC, to set how we as a utility will meet future electricity demand and ensuring companies have the energy they need to operate and deliver for their customers.

Beyond the Site Selection Announcement

When a company decides to locate in a city or town, it’s investing in the region in several ways:

• Increasing the local taxes paid by industrial and commercial businesses.
• Generating more capital to invest in the services residents use every day like sidewalks and schools.
• Creating new jobs and career pathways and partnering on special initiatives and non-profits to improve the quality of life for all residents.

The decision for a business to come to Georgia is made carefully and with support from many people and organizations working together, including the people who live and work in the communities, operating with one goal in mind—to build stronger, more resilient communities.

Georgia Power’s Economic Development organization is proud to support this goal. Our best-in-class services and statewide collaboration have been recognized globally, including by Site Selection magazine, which has named Georgia Power a Top Utility for Economic Development for 28 consecutive years, more than any other utility in the country.

While Georgia offers many of the top requirements industries consider when selecting a new location, those assets don’t guarantee selection. Ultimately, industries choose locations that meet their facility requirements and where they feel they are welcome to join and participate in the community.

At Georgia Power, we want businesses to know not only are they set up for success in Georgia, they're welcomed with open arms. Our economic development team has been part of bringing investment to Georgia for almost 100 years, working with the state, local communities, and other partners on many of Georgia’s most impactful projects. And we look forward to powering prosperity and generating opportunity for all Georgians for another century.

About the Author

Jennifer Zeller spearheads economic development growth initiatives at Georgia Power. As the Director of Strategic Solutions, she leads a team of engineers, researchers, and marketing experts who provide innovative solutions contributing to Georgia’s decade-long status as the best state to do business.

They focus on attracting new businesses, helping existing ones expand, and empowering communities for future success. She also manages the Georgia Experience Center, a globally recognized multimedia facility that helps companies make strategic location decisions.

Learn more about Georgia Power Economic Development and why companies are choosing Georgia at selectgeorgia.com.