Homestate Glory
Texas named the State of the Year: National magazine loves our dynamic ways
Unsurprisingly, Texas has scored the top spot as 2012 State of the Year in Business Facilities' annual list, thanks to what Jack Rogers, the publication's editor-in-chief, calls "the most dynamic economy of any state in the nation."
"The job-producing engine of the Lone Star State barely sputtered during the Great Recession, bouncing back over pre-Recession levels faster than anywhere else in the U.S.," Rogers writes. "As our friends in Texas like to remind us, if Texas was a separate country its economic vitality would rival most of the world's leading economies and even give the U.S. a run for its money."
Texas' still-thriving oil and gas sector played a part in the economy's continued strength, as did a resurgence in manufacturing, a bump in alternative energy and growth in the tech sector, which ranges from semiconductors to bioscience to Apple (the computer giant announced last year that it would build a $304 million campus in Austin).
"If Texas was a separate country, its economic vitality would rival most of the world's leading economies."
A business-friendly environment, a strong infrastructure, low labor costs, rampant population growth and a higher education system that churns out a highly-qualified workforce also combine to make Texas an economic front-runner.
Runners-up for Business Facilities' State of the Year recognition include Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia and Utah.
