Madison County Alabama ranked No. 3 in the state for incoming investment according to a survey conducted by SmartAsset, a team of financial techies, journalists, and data analysts that promote accuracy and transparency in all aspects of the financial industry.

The study looks at cities across the United States that received the most incoming investments in sectors such as business, real estate, government, and the local economy overall.

To do this, they measure local investment growth across three categories including Gross Domestic Product (GDP), new businesses launched, and new building permits.

The most recent edition of the study, using U.S. Census data, compared the change in the number of businesses established in Madison County throughout the past three-year period, to determine whether people are starting new business ventures here.

Despite the pandemic started in early 2020, Madison County experienced an increase of 2.6 percent investment growth over the three-year period.

The next investment metric considered inflation-adjusted GDP growth in each county, since increases in local GDP signify growth in the local economy. Madison County showed $758 million in GDP growth – significantly higher than both Lee and Baldwin counties who were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, overall statewide.

To measure real estate growth, the survey considered investment and development in the Madison County residential real estate market and found 24.2 new building permits per 1,000 homes.

The study then combined those scores to create a final ranking of counties with an index where the county with the most incoming investments was assigned a value of 100, and the county with the least investment activity received a zero.

Madison County had an incoming investment index of 48.68, placing them third in the state overall.

These numbers, although based only on Madison County, back up the more than $7 billion in new investment announced statewide in 2020, based on 2019 figures.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said at the time, “Despite all the challenges present today, we remain committed to fostering long-term economic growth across Alabama, and we will continue to energetically pursue high-value projects to spark job growth and create opportunities for our citizens.”

Madison County is a proven leader in driving that commitment.