Le Bourget, Paris, 55th International Paris Air Show: Inside the U.S. Pavilion's gathering of global aerospace leaders, the roar of jet engines quiets as JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef extended a heartfelt invitation: Ohio is the only place where you can dream it, build it, test it and deliver it.
The message drew crowds in France and attention from executives across the world. They’re drawing a red circle around Ohio – not just for the business-friendly environment and excellent quality of life – but also for their confidence in finding abundant reliable energy, suppliers, customers and a ready workforce to move an idea from concept to commercial scale, all within a short commute.
The on-ramp to this end-to-end runway starts with JobsOhio, the state’s privately funded, sector-specialized economic development corporation that works like an institutional investor with a public mission. The moment a company operating in its 10 target sectors raises a hand, JobsOhio comes to the table with capital, pre-vetted sites, talent programs and industry expertise – reducing friction, compressing lead times and lowering execution risk for enterprise expansions or relocations.
Since 2019, company agreements with JobsOhio have totaled more than $87 billion in new investment and 146,000 high-paying jobs statewide. The Buckeye State recently clinched the number five spot in CNBC's Top States for Business index, crediting Ohio with the nation’s best infrastructure and second-lowest cost of doing business. The state’s three-year ascent in the national rankings signals a decisive shift in North America’s industrial center of gravity as Ohio is now the number one state for business in the Midwest.
Sites and Infrastructure: Speed As a Strategy
Headline-grabbing rankings matter less as bragging rights than as evidence of what site selectors value most: reliability. If time from final investment decision (FID) to first production is critical, choosing Ohio can save months or years.
Ideal move-in ready sites backed by JobsOhio’s Site Inventory Program (OSIP) offer abundant, reliable power and water and come pre-engineered for utilities. The program has transformed 109 properties totaling 18 million square feet of project-ready space and advanced more than 7,300 acres of industrial land since 2020. Prospects see a pad, permit and power feed on day one. Another $750 million commitment to prepare megaproject sites through the All Ohio Future Fund further cements Ohio’s number one spot in Site Selection’s Global Groundwork Index for a second straight year.
After groundbreaking, Ohio’s infrastructure network and central location deliver daily. With the country’s fourth-largest interstate highway system, fourth-largest active rail network and fifth-highest concentration of warehousing services, Ohio places finished goods within a day’s drive of 60 percent of U.S. and Canadian populations.
Talent: Ready to Scale With You
Ohio’s world-class talent pool is the multiplier on all that concrete and steel. The state’s workforce tops 5.5 million people, including the nation’s third-largest cohort of 691,000 manufacturing workers, and workforce productivity that leads the Midwest. JobsOhio sees much more opportunity ahead and pursues an aggressive strategy to generate the projected 540,000 STEM and technically skilled employees needed by 2032 to feed expansion of the state’s technology, advanced manufacturing and life sciences clusters.
Since 2017, JobsOhio has supported nearly 600 companies and invested nearly $700 million into employer-driven talent programs. From its customizable Talent & Workforce Toolkit, companies can access a JobsOhio Workforce Grant for tailored upskilling, Talent Acquisition Services that embed recruiters for hard-to-fill roles, the “Call Ohio Home” talent attraction campaign that markets Ohio careers across the country and the extraordinary new JobsOhio Relocation Incentive that awards companies $15,000 for every priority-sector hire they relocate to Ohio. Ohio companies also plug into a statewide network of 200 universities, community colleges and technical centers, plus OhioMeansJobs offices in every county.
JobsOhio 2030: Super Sectors in Motion
“JobsOhio 2030: Let’s Grow, Together” sets a clear North Star for Ohio’s economic development over the next five years: keep Ohio among the nation’s top five states for high-quality jobs, resilience and shared prosperity by doubling down on the assets that matter most: sites, energy, talent and innovation.
The plan’s centerpiece is a super sector strategy leveraging Ohio’s dynamic economic clusters where high-growth industries intersect, allowing companies to share suppliers, shorten supply chains and attack trillion-dollar markets. By integrating historic manufacturing strengths with research and development depth, logistics reach and a nation-leading workforce, each super sector accelerates the product journey from discovery to commercialization at warp speed.
Life Sciences: Discovery in Focus
Ohio’s Life Sciences super sector revolves around the Ohio Discovery Corridor, a living laboratory stretching from the Cleveland Clinic to The Ohio State University to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.Biotech alone is a $1.1 trillion global industry, and proximity lets researchers, clinicians and manufacturers communicate in real time.
Amgen took its Central Ohio plant from groundbreaking to certified production in just 26 months, the fastest build in company history. Talent pipelines have kept pace. JobsOhio and Columbus State built a custom biomanufacturing curriculum in just 12 months and every graduate now wears an Amgen badge. National Resilience is scaling toward 1,000 employees in Southwest Ohio, while Pharmavite and Abbott are expanding with $250 million and $1.0 billion investments in nutritional and medical device manufacturing, respectively.
Advanced Manufacturing: From Heritage to Hyperscale
Ohio’s Wright Brothers once forged the first airplane parts, and today that same DNA is powering a manufacturing engine that cuts across every modern sector. With a leading workforce ready for Industry 4.0, the state carries the fourth-largest manufacturing GDP of any state, generating $116 billion in annual output.
Since 2022, aerospace and defense projects have delivered more than $5 billion in fresh capital, including Joby Aviation’s production line for 500 electric air taxis a year, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s massive hangars for aircraft modifications and Anduril’s Arsenal-1 campus for hyperscale military drone manufacturing, a $910 million build creating 4,000 jobs.
“Innovation advances fastest where there is ready talent to physically realize it,” noted Nauseef. “Leading companies are increasingly choosing Ohio to make their innovations at scale.”
Technology: The Silicon Heartland
Intel’s $20 billion fabs ignited the Silicon Heartland. Amazon Web Services added $10 billion to its $7.8 billion cloud footprint, Google committed another $2.3 billion, and now more than 1,500 data-center facilities operate statewide. JobsOhio’s leadership of the Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) puts Ohio at the epicenter of essential national defense technology development, prototyping and manufacturing. MMEC’s more than 350 members encompass every aspect required to move microelectronics innovations from lab-to-fab-to-mission and market transition.
Market analysts noticed, as Ohio leapt from #12 to #6 on CNBC’s Top States for Technology and Innovation in 2025.
Have It All in the Heart of It All
Ohio’s Super Sectors tap into the state’s abundant natural resources, nuclear fleet, manufacturing capabilities and research institutions. The unique combination offers a fundamental competitive advantage for energy-intensive operations from data centers to advanced manufacturing.
Companies also enjoy unmatched responsiveness thanks to collaboration across Team Ohio, a statewide network of public and private economic development partners acting as a catalyst for the state’s economic resurgence. Through this unique model, the DeWine-Tressel Administration’s policies have opened access to infrastructure funding, targeted tax credits and streamlined permitting; the General Assembly reinforced the business climate with lower taxes and long-term incentives for megaprojects; JobsOhio delivers pre-vetted sites, performance-based grant packages and customized services from its sector experts and talent specialists; and the JobsOhio’s seven regional network partners contribute local intelligence and stakeholder support.
Every element works in concert to help companies and people to find what it is they’re looking for – and thrive. Instead of navigating a maze, companies experience one front door, concierge service and a commitment to business success.
Ohio’s door is open. Business owners are invited to step through and make their move. T&ID
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