CHILLICOTHE – The city of Chillicothe is among the top 100 Micropolitan Areas in the U.S. for 2021.

Atlanta-based Site Selection magazine named the city one of its top cities with 10,000 to 50,000 people that cover at least one county. Chillicothe was ranked in a tie for 39th place on the list, which ranks 543 different cities. Ohio’s First Capital also made the list in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Ohio once again led as the state with most Top 100 Micropolitans, with 17 of them tallying enough projects to account for 20% of the state’s total. Indiana had 10 Top Micros for second place, while Georgia and North Carolina tied for third with nine Top Micros each.

The 68-year-old Atlanta-based magazine has awarded the Governor’s Cup annually since 1988, based on new and expanded corporate facilities as tracked by the proprietary Conway Projects Database. Site Selection, published by Conway Inc., is the senior publication in the corporate real estate and economic development fields and is the official publication of the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC, at www.iamc.org). Site Selection’s yearly analyses are regarded by corporate real estate analysts as “the industry scoreboard.” The magazine’s circulation base consists of 48,000 subscribers, most of whom are involved in corporate site selection decisions at the CEO/President/COO level.

Overall data from the full 2021 calendar year show a pronounced upswing in project activity compared to data from the pandemic-affected economy of 2020. The Lone Star State’s total of 1,123 projects is up by nearly 44% from its 2020 tally of 781. Ohio is second with 507, up from 419 in 2020. Next come Illinois with 480; California with 301 and North Carolina with 282. (See complete top 10 states and other Top 10 rankings from this issue below.) The biggest upward mover was California, which leaped to No. 4 from No. 16 last year.