Relocating to North Carolina: 9 Reasons It Makes Sense for Your Business

Are you thinking about relocating your business? Think about North Carolina.

It just makes sense.

It makes so much sense because so many dollars are being spent by companies moving to the state and/or expanding their footprints there – digging in their heels in the Tar Heel State.

Take it from Publix, a supermarket chain which will build a $300 million Greensboro Distribution Center, creating up to 1,000 new jobs by 2025.

“We will keep making sure our workforce has the capacity to excel and meet the needs of Publix and other quickly growing businesses in North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in an article on the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina website.

Take it from Arch Capital Group, a globally diversified financial services group providing insurance, reinsurance and mortgage insurance.

Arch recently opened a $12.9 million operational hub in Raleigh, bringing 365 new jobs over four years.

“The overall attractiveness of the area, combined with our existing operations in North Carolina and the incentives offered by the state were all factors in our decision to create an operational hub in Raleigh,” said Marc Grandisson, president and CEO of Arch Capital Group, on edpnc.com. “This region offers a talented and educated labor force, a collaborative business environment, and an appealing quality of life for our employees.”

PHOTO: Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company

Take it from Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company, North Carolina’s largest recycled paper producer, which will open a new plant in Burke County, creating 42 jobs. The company, according to edpnc.com, plans to invest approximately $14 million in its new plant in Morganton and begin operations in the second quarter of 2019.

This new facility will produce more than 1 billion square feet per year of corrugated sheets for sale to corrugated box makers.

“Jackson Paper has first-hand knowledge of the advantages North Carolina offers a manufacturer,” Commerce Secretary Anthony Copeland said on edpnc.com, “including a highly skilled workforce and opportunities for training and pipeline development, project-ready industrial sites and strong infrastructure.”

So there is evidence online why North Carolina is a solution for your company, and – as Jackson confirms – there is evidence on paper.

Here are nine reasons it makes sense for your business to relocate to North Carolina:

1. PRO-BUSINESS STATE

Forbes, Chief Executive Magazine, CNBC and Site Selection Magazine consistently rank North Carolina as a top state for doing business.

“North Carolina’s targeted, performance-based incentive programs help companies that are locating and doing business in North Carolina by lessening the tax burden and lowering overall costs to the company,” according to edpnc.com.

Those incentives include: a county tier system, discretionary grants, building demolition for dilapidated industrial structures, building reuse for renovation and up-fitting of commercial locations, public infrastructure, workforce training and development, transportation programs and tax exemptions.

2. LOWEST CORPORATE TAX RATE

For those states which have a corporate tax, North Carolina has the lowest rate in the country at 3 percent, having lowered it from 4 percent in 2017.

3. LOCATION

North Carolina provides easy access to points all along the eastern seaboard – north to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York; west to Nashville; south to Atlanta and Florida.

4. ACCESSIBILITY

By air: North Carolina offers the convenience of four international airports: Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro and Wilmington International Airport. Charlotte’s airport is the nation’s sixth busiest. According to tripsavvy.com, the state also features regional airports in Asheville, Fayetteville, Greenville, New Bern and Richlands, just outside of Jacksonville.

By road: The Blue Ridge Parkway travels 252 miles in North Carolina’s mountains, according to visitnc.com.

By rail: North Carolina provides Amtrak and light rail for moving people and freight trains for transporting goods.

By port: According to North Carolina Ports, Wilmington container growth is up 38 percent and general cargo is up 18 percent for the 2018 fiscal year.

5. QUALITY OF LIFE

Big cities, small towns, mountains and miles upon miles of beaches. While some states offer a little of everything, North Carolina offers a lot of everything. How many miles of beaches? Three hundred, according to visitnc.com, including a prime destination spot: the Currituck Outer Banks.

6. BLEND OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Some things old and some things new. North Carolina has a heritage of farming and furniture making in rural areas and the most advanced technology developments in the Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

7. GROWING WORKFORCE

A chunk of that comes from the military, with more on the way.

Defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton will expand an existing facility Fayetteville and then expand in Cumberland County over the next five years, adding 200 jobs to its North Carolina workforce in exchange for more than $2 million in financial expenses, The Associated Press reported.

North Carolina has a huge military population. The state had 112,951 active duty and reserve members as of September 2017 – fourth most in the nation, according to governing.com.

In a North Carolina Department of Commerce study, “The Economic Impact of the Military on North Carolina,” key findings included: the military supports roughly 10 percent of North Carolina’s economy; the military supports 540,000 jobs in North Carolina, $30 billion in state personal income and $48 billion in gross state product and North Carolina’s active military personnel have in-demand occupational skills which could contribute to private industries in the state as personnel separate from the military in the future.

8. ENTERTAINMENT

Life’s not all about work, after all.

If you love big-time college basketball, the state offers Duke and Carolina ... or Carolina and Duke, depending on your preference.

Don’t forget about N.C. State and Wake Forest as well. Then the NCAA Tournament arrives for March Madness.

If you want to go pro, North Carolina offers an NFL team (the Carolina Panthers), an NBA team (the Charlotte Hornets) and an NHL team (the Carolina Hurricanes).

Add to that several pro teams from other sports, as well as minor-league squads sprinkled across the state, and you have plenty of game options.

In May, you can take a series of left turns in Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600, one of the biggest NASCAR races of the year.

Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro are destination spots for major concert events, as country, pop and rap stars fill arenas.

In August and September 2018 alone, such diverse acts scheduled to take stages across the state included: Jason Aldean, Joan Baez, Bush, George Clinton, Daughtry, G-Eazy, Niall Horan, Chris Isaak, Alan Jackson, Sarah McLachlan, Brad Paisley, Judas Priest, Primus, Deep Purple, Kid Rock, Rascal Flatts, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Frankie Valli.