Site Selection, an economic development-focused publication, ranked Alabama in the Top 10 in its annual State Business Climate survey, based largely on feedback from corporate real estate executives and project activity.

Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield (File)

Alabama placed No. 9 in the magazine’s overall 2016 State Business Climate rankings, and No. 8 in the survey of corporate site selectors who were asked to rank the states based on their experience of locating facilities.

This year’s results reflect an improvement from 2015, when Alabama ranked No. 11 overall and No. 9 in Site Selection’s executive survey.

“Receiving high rankings from site selection professionals is solid evidence of the hard work put in by all members of Alabama’s economic development team who are winning new investment and jobs for communities across the state,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.

“At the same time, we are committed to enhancing Alabama’s competitive position in economic development so that we can bring home game-changing projects and new opportunities for our citizens,” he added.

Georgia topped Site Selection’s Business Climate rankings.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, second from left, joins GE Aviation’s Sanjay Correa, center, and other officials late last year for an announcement that GE Aviation would invest more than $200 million to build two factories in Huntsville. (Jamie Martin/Governor’s Office)

The announcement of a Google data center for Alabama is one of the state’s recent economic development successes. Pictured is a Google data center in Oklahoma. (Google)

A Polaris Slingshot at the new Polaris factory in Madison, one of the state’s recent business coups. (Polaris)

Winning streak

A record-setting year in 2015 for Alabama’s economic development team, led by Gov. Robert Bentley, has garnered the state plenty of attention. Alabama attracted more than $7.1 billion in new capital investment last year in projects that will create more than 19,200 jobs.

A sampling of recent recognition:

• An analysis by global business service firm Ernst & Young ranked Alabama No. 5 among the states for new investment in 2015, and it cited the state’s strong record on foreign investment.
• Business Facilities, another economic development-focused publication, named Alabama its “State of the Year” in 2015, pointing to the successful recruitment of Polaris’ $140 million manufacturing facility and Google’s $600 million data center, among others.
• Alabama ranked No. 6 in Area Development magazine’s 2016 “Top States for Doing Business” list and earned a Silver Shovel award for economic development accomplishments in 2015.

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.