Jacksonville tumbles in foreign investment rankings (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Although Jacksonville once again got high marks in the amount of “aftercare” it provides foreign companies looking to expand in the U.S., the city fell out of the top 10 in the second annual Financial Times-Nikkei Investing in America ranking.
Last year, Jacksonville came in at No. 8 in the inaugural edition of the study that rated cities’ economic, regulatory and social characteristics through the lens of overseas businesses.
The news organizations reviewed cities’ workforce and talent, openness and business environment, foreign business needs, quality of life, investment trends and administrative support offered to foreign companies.
The methodology for the study was modified this year, with the rankings now taking into account things like how cities are responding to climate change, what their walkability levels look like and how diverse they are.
With the new methodology, Jacksonville fell to No. 35 on the list, which was topped by Houston.
Miami was the highest ranked Florida city, coming in at No. 8, with Orlando at No. 13 and Tampa at No. 27.
Last year, Miami was No. 1 on the list and Orlando was No. 2.
Jacksonville’s drop was one of the largest changes in the survey.
The city once again got a perfect 100 for how well it takes care of foreign companies that locate operations here, with the data based on a State International Development Organizations survey survey looking at how cities helped companies moving to the area.
While Jacksonville got decent marks on several of the other metrics, its ranking was hampered by a score of 53 out of 100 on “openness” — which gauges how welcoming the city is to overseas talent — and a 38 on the measurement of the quality of the local workforce and ease of hiring