Gov. Brian Kemp

ATLANTA – Area Development magazine has selected Georgia as the No.-1 state for business for the 10th year in a row, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.

Georgia placed in the top 10 for all 14 categories included in the magazine’s annual rankings and earned the No.-1 spot in seven of those categories.

Georgia has generated 343,650 new jobs since first receiving the award a decade ago, and that includes only economic development projects in which the state played a role.

Most of those jobs came to communities in rural Georgia, Kemp said during a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion attended by state agency heads, legislators, and former Gov. Nathan Deal, who was in office at the time Georgia first won the designation as the best state for business in 2013.

“People shouldn’t have to move away from home to find good economic opportunities,” Kemp said.

The 2023 Top States for Doing Business Survey is the 14th in Area Development magazine’s annual series.