Texas secured Site Selection magazine’s No. 1 business-climate ranking for the fourth consecutive year, Gov. Greg Abbott announced.
The November 2 announcement adds to a year in which Texas led the nation in qualifying corporate facility projects, with Dallas-Fort Worth among the top-performing metropolitan areas.
The distinction comes as Dallas faces a different test: retaining major downtown employers while addressing public safety and a voter-approved police staffing requirement.
What The No. 1 Ranking Measures
Texas ranked ahead of Georgia, North Carolina, California, and Virginia in Site Selection’s 2026 ranking. Florida, Washington, New York, Tennessee, and Ohio completed the top 10.
The publication’s 16-part index considers executive perspectives, taxes, affordable electricity, technology employment, corporate projects, fast-growing companies, and infrastructure. Texas also led the magazine’s survey of executives identifying states with the best business climates.
“Texas leads the nation in economic opportunity,” Abbott said in his November 2 release.
DFW Wins Projects, But Downtown Faces Competition
Texas recorded 1,406 qualifying corporate facility projects in 2025, more than double Illinois’ 680, earning its 14th consecutive Governor’s Cup. Dallas-Fort Worth ranked third among large metro areas with 410 projects, behind Chicago’s 606 and Houston’s 590. The Dallas Express previously covered the statewide award.
Dallas also won a new corporate commitment in September: Morgan Stanley announced a U.S. hub involving a projected $684 million capital investment and more than 3,800 jobs. A $43,849,500 Texas Enterprise Fund grant and $40,000 veteran-job bonus were extended to the company, according to the governor’s office.
Abbott Blamed Dallas For AT&T’s Planned Departure
AT&T announced January 5 that it would relocate its global headquarters from downtown Dallas to Plano and consolidate operations. The company expects initial occupancy during the second half of 2028. Plano approved the headquarters site plan in September, following an agreement contemplating at least $1.35 billion in property improvements.
At a January 6 law enforcement event in Fort Worth, Abbott criticized Dallas’ police staffing and homelessness response. “Because Dallas did not do that, AT&T is now moving out of downtown,” he told The Dallas Express, as the outlet reported the next day. The statement was Abbott’s assessment, not a finding establishing the company’s reason for relocating.
In March, The Dallas Express reported on emails obtained through a public-information request showing that AT&T CEO John Stankey had raised public-safety and governance concerns with Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert in 2025. In a May 11 message, Stankey said his concerns extended to the “ongoing and cyclical nature” of challenges with effective city governance and the long-term business environment.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Tolbert said AT&T preferred a large, horizontal campus with substantial acreage, and Dallas leaders said they had worked to retain the company, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Downtown Safety Has Improved
Downtown Dallas Inc. President and CEO Jennifer Scripps told a September 30 audience that downtown had about 130 assigned and approved police officers, up from the 90s several years earlier. She also cited declines of 16.5% in violent crime, 29% in robberies, and 45% in auto thefts, according to The Dallas Express coverage.
A separate September comparison obtained by The Dallas Express counted 171 downtown Dallas offenses, down from 323 a year earlier. A street-level homeless survey counted 22 people in the central business district, compared with 103 in September 2025. Downtown Fort Worth recorded 22 offenses in the same comparison, but the two districts differ in geographic size and resident population. These are raw counts, not population-adjusted crime rates.
Propositions U And S Put City Hall Under Scrutiny
Dallas voters approved Proposition U in 2024, directing the city to increase full-time sworn police staffing to at least 4,000 and meet additional pension-funding and officer-compensation requirements. An October 13 city hiring report listed 3,447 sworn officers, 553 below the minimum, The Dallas Express reported. The charter sets no deadline for reaching the initial 4,000-officer level.
The adopted city budget projects 3,651 officers by September 2027 and 3,800 by September 2028, both below the charter minimum.
On October 28, the City Council approved funding measures for a new police training center at the University of North Texas at Dallas. That construction funding does not, by itself, satisfy the hiring requirement.
Proposition S, approved by Dallas voters in the same 2024 election, provides a mechanism for qualifying residents to bring lawsuits alleging that the city has failed to comply with specified legal obligations.
Lawsuits involving the amendment are testing its scope, and courts have not settled every issue concerning its enforcement, as The Dallas Express previously examined.
The Test For Downtown Dallas
Site Selection’s new ranking reflects Texas’ appeal to corporate location decisionmakers, while the Dallas-Fort Worth project total shows substantial investment across the wider region. Dallas’ recent downtown public-safety improvements offer another measurable development.
The competing facts remain: AT&T has committed to moving its headquarters to Plano; its CEO raised concerns with Dallas officials before the announcement; city leaders have cited the company’s campus preferences; and Dallas remains below the police staffing minimum established by voters.
Whether downtown can translate its improvements into new or retained corporate commitments is a separate question from Texas’ statewide No. 1 ranking.
Provided by Dallas Express
