This year Area Development recognizes 20 states with its Gold & Silver Shovel awards. Six states in five population categories — Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi — are being awarded Gold Shovels in recognition of projects undertaken in 2018 creating a significant number of high-value-added jobs as well as large capital investments. Silver Shovels are being awarded to 14 other states: Florida, Illinois, New York (12+ million); Michigan, North Carolina (8+ to 12 million); Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee (5+ to 8 million); Kentucky, Nevada, Utah (3+ to 5 million population); and Kansas, Nebraska, Rhode Island (3 million or fewer population).

Our Annual Shovel awards recognize state and local economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, and other processes that attract new employers as well as investments in expanded facilities. The Gold and Silver Shovel awards are presented annually to the states that have achieved the most success in terms of new job creation and company investment. Only those projects that began to materialize in 2018 were considered. States are compared only to others in their population tier, and the Shovel Awards are given to the states with the highest weighted scores based on the number of high-valued added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities, and industry diversity.

Additionally, five projects are distinguished as “Projects of the Year” for their job creation and investment numbers: Regeneron (NY), Nikola (AZ), Micron Technology (VA), Mazda/Toyota (AL), and Electric Boat (RI).