Site Selection magazine, an authority in the corporate real estate and economic development field, recently published an article to its audience of site selection decision makers explaining why the Lehigh Valley was the top mid-sized market for economic development last year. 
The article, “4 Reasons Companies Are Expanding in the Lehigh Valley,” highlighted the region’s record-breaking $50 billion Gross Domestic Product; its growing population; its location advantage, within a day’s drive of one-third of U.S. consumers; its success in workforce development; and Pennsylvania’s new program to invest in shovel-ready sites.
“When it comes to regions that achieved significant economic growth over the last year, the Lehigh Valley certainly stands out,” says the article by Lindsay Lopp.
In March, Site Selection ranked the Lehigh Valley as the top market of its size (200,000 to 1 million population) in the nation for the number of qualifying economic development projects in 2023. Lehigh Valley ranked fourth among communities of all sizes in the Northeast.
In its September edition focusing on regional success stories in the U.S. and internationally, Site Selection chose the Lehigh Valley as the region to be spotlighted from Pennsylvania.
The article explained some of the major economic milestones achieved in the Lehigh Valley in the past few years, including B. Braun Medical’s $200 million expansion; Evonik’s $700 million investment; and Schless Bottles’ $7.5 million relocation from New Jersey.
“These impressive accomplishments can’t be attributed to one resource or asset alone,” the article said.
Don Cunningham, President and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC), was interviewed for the article.
“Population growth, education infrastructure, access to market and available buildings or land to develop. I think all that ranks higher in the end than incentives and other things that economic developers get involved in,” Cunningham said.
Site Selection is published by Conway Data, which has a circulation of 41,000 executives involved in corporate site selection decisions.