It seems like the mega-deals — e.g., Foxconn or Amazon — get all the headlines and competing incentives offers; but there are, in fact, many middle-market companies, with revenues between $5 million and $250 million, that are being courted by communities across the nation with various financing programs. These may include numerous tax credits as well as opportunities afforded by locating in special development zones, such as the newly created Opportunity Zones. Additionally, if these middle-market firms are creating jobs for an area’s residents, they can often expect to receive help from local EDOs with workforce recruiting and training.

When it comes to market size, corporate site selectors are also favoring mid-sized urban markets over their mega-city counterparts. These mid-size urban markets offer a solid workforce pool and lower cost of doing business than the mega-cities, where wage rates and real estate costs are generally higher. They’re also growing in population, which is an important measure of economic vitality. In fact, for the first time since 2007, the nation’s mid-size metro areas (population 250,000 to 999,000) grew faster than the large metro areas in the 12 months ending July 1, 2018, according to Indeed Chief Economist Jed Kolko as reported by Bloomberg.