“It is time to start talking about the State of Texas as a dynasty in economic development.”

Ron Starner
Executive Vice President
Site Selection
… on Texas winning the Governor’s Cup for a 14th consecutive year, via a news announcement from the Office of the Texas Governor.

Fourteen in a row.

Texas has won Site Selection Magazine’s Governor’s Cup for the 14th consecutive year—and 22 times total—according to a March 2 announcement at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin. The state landed more than 1,400 projects in 2025, with capital investment topping $75 billion and new job creation exceeding 42,000.

That’s double the project count of the next-closest state.

“Texas did not just win the Governor’s Cup this time, it obliterated the record book,” said Site Selection Executive Vice President Ron Starner. “The dynasty continues.”

Site Selection Executive Vice President Ron Starner presents the Governor’s Cup trophy to Governor Greg Abbott at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin on March 2. [Photo: Eduardo Leal (TGA)/Office of the Texas Governor]

Starner, who presented the trophy to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, later likened the streak to some of the state’s most dominant sports runs.

“I compared their longevity and their dominance to several of the great Texas sports teams of the past few decades: the Cowboys, the Spurs, and the Comets,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “It’s not just how you win, but how often you win and how dominant you are in doing it. On that count, no other state even comes close to matching Texas.”

Governor Abbott, who was joined at the press conference by Secretary of State Jane Nelson, Texas Economic Development & Tourism Executive Director Adriana Cruz, and business and community leaders from across the state, framed the streak as a product of coordination between state and local economic development teams.

“There is no state that is better-designed or better-positioned economically now and going forward,” Abbott said.

The Governor’s Cup is an annual award from Site Selection, a trade publication covering corporate real estate, site planning, and foreign direct investment. It goes to the top-performing U.S. state for job-creating business relocations and expansions—meaning Texas is ranked No. 1, again.

“You can see that we are on a trajectory to ensure our economic diversification is going to inoculate us in good times, as well as bad times,” Abbott added, “to ensure our economy is still going to grow, still create new jobs, prosperity, and opportunities for Texans going forward.”

As the Texas Economic Development Corporation folks put it in a social media post shared by Fort Worth economic development veteran Robert Sturns: “14 years in a row isn’t luck. It’s leadership, partnership, and performance!”

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

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