Greenville Makes Top 10 on “American Cities of the Future” List
Greenville, NC (April 16, 2015) – Greenville has once again made the top 10 on fDi Magazine’s list of “American Micro Cities of the Future-2015-16.” Greenville made the top 10 overall, the top 3 in two other categories, and has been ranked highly on the list since its inception in 2011.
Greenville ranks as the #9 Micro American City of the Future-Overall, moving up one spot from the 2013-14 list. Greenville is also ranked #2 for Human Capital and Lifestyle, and #3 for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) Strategy. Greenville was #8 in both of these categories in the 2013-14 rankings.
fDi Magazine is produced by The Financial Times Ltd., one of the world’s leading business news organizations, and is recognized internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, serving as an essential resource for the global business community.
“Our community has been stacking up accolades like this over the past few years, and we’re very pleased that Greenville continues to be included on this prestigious list,” remarked Kelly Andrews, associate director of the Pitt County Development Commission.
fDi focuses these rankings on a mixture of data and expert opinion to name cities that have the best prospects for inward investment, economic development and business expansion. Greenville falls into the Micro Cities category, which includes cities with populations under 100,000. There are also categories for Major Cities with populations up to 750,000, Large Cities with populations between 250,000 and 750,000 and Small Cities with populations between 100,000 and 250,000.
fDi Intelligence compiled research on over 400 cities in North and South America and created shortlists for further study. This collection of data was organized into five categories, including economic potential, human capital and lifestyle, cost effectiveness, connectivity and business friendliness. A separate category, FDI Strategy, was judged and scored by an independent panel based on over 100 city submissions from the shortlist.
Greenville ranked highest in the Human Capital and Lifestyle category, coming in #2 for Micro Cities. This category was based on various factors, such as the number of students, labor force as a percentage of the population, literacy rate, secondary and tertiary enrollment rates, the number of physicians as a percentage of population, and GDP per capita.
“We are particularly proud that we ranked so highly for human capital and lifestyle,” Andrews said. “This speaks volumes about our labor force and quality of life.”
Full results are available at http://www.fdiintelligence.com/Locations/Americas/American-Cities-of-the-Future-2015-16-Winners.
