The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area moved up a spot in rankings by Site Selection Magazine, coming in second to No. 1 Chicago for the number of new and expanded corporate facilities projects in 2018.

Site Selection compiled its rankings as part of its yearly Governor’s Cup Awards that recognizes top states and cities for capital investment and job creation. The state of Texas won the Governor’s Cup, taking the top spot for the seventh straight year with its 608 projects.

The Dallas metro area reported 207 projects, while Houston ranked fourth with 165 new and and expanded corporate projects.

Corporate projects had to meet certain criteria

The study was done on metro areas of over 1 million people. The projects include company headquarters, manufacturing plants, research and development operations, and logistics sites. The projects are tracked by Site Selections’ Conway Projects Database.

Retail, government projects, schools, and hospitals were included in the list, and the new projects had to meet at least one of three criteria: a capital investment of at least $1 million, create at least 20 new jobs, or add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.

When the awards were announced earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott singled out Irving and its Las Colinas business park as examples of the region’s success.

“You need to know this, Irving-Las Colinas has more Fortune 500 companies that any other city in the United States,” Abbott said during a news conference.

Abbott also mentioned the announcement in December that McKesson Corp., the largest pharmaceutical distributor in the U.S., would relocate its headquarter from San Francisco this spring.