Kentucky State Seal

 

*OFFICE OF GOVERNOR ANDY BESHEAR*

*COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY*








*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*




*Contact:* 

*Scottie Ellis*
*502-401-6933*

*Brandon Mattingly
502-782-2006*






************************************Go*v. Beshear: Kentucky Leads America’s Best Counties Rankings With 4 Counties in the Top 20 Per Capita*************************************

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Mason, Muhlenberg, Scott and Shelby counties recognized for private-sector investment, job creation""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

*FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 2, 2025) *– Today, Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted continued economic success across the commonwealth as four Kentucky counties were recognized in the top 20 per capita in Site Selection magazine’s America’s Best Counties ranking released this week.

Kentucky had more counties represented in the per capita list than any other state. They include Muhlenberg County in third place, Scott County in sixth, Shelby County in eighth and Mason County in 15th.

“This national recognition shows that Kentucky is an economic leader and we’re continuing to create new jobs and great opportunities for people and communities across our commonwealth,” Gov. Beshear said. “Congratulations to Muhlenberg, Scott, Shelby and Mason counties on being recognized among America’s best counties for economic growth since the start of 2024. We’re going to keep working hard to ensure companies across the globe continue to bet on our New Kentucky Home.”

The rankings are based on Site Selection’s point system, which considers the number of projects announced between January 2024 and March 2025, as well as capital investment and jobs created.

Projects that contributed to the strong placement of Kentucky’s four counties included:

*Muhlenberg County*
Site Selection’s rankings highlighted the proposed Repkon USA – Defense LLC project, which was awarded a U.S. Army contract to design, construct and commission a TNT facility in Graham to build what would be the first facility of its kind in the United States since the 1980s.

Biomass Engineering and Equipment (BE&E) broke ground last month on a $20 million facility to manufacture equipment for the agriculture, forest products and biomass sectors. The project will create 250 jobs and is the first to locate at Paradise Regional Industrial Park on a site that was approved in 2023 for $745,000 in state support through the Kentucky Product Development Initiative.

*Scott County*
In February 2024, Toyota increased its investment toward battery electric vehicle production to $1.3 billion and increased its job retention commitment by 700 full-time employees. In December, the company announced an additional $922 million investment to build an advanced paint facility at its largest global production facility in Georgetown.

*Shelby County*
In November, Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing announced the largest jobs announcement in Kentucky in more than two years with a nearly $712 million investment creating 1,572 skilled, high-tech positions. The largest investment and jobs announcement on record in Shelby County will establish production of self-contained energy storage systems for use in modular, containerized utility-scale batteries.

*Mason County*
Last July, Mitsubishi Electric US announced a $143.5 million investment in Maysville that will create 122 high-wage jobs. The project will repurpose an existing automotive-related manufacturing facility to produce highly efficient heat pump compressors. In 2023, the project was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a $50 million grant, which is pending final approval.

Earlier this year, Site Selection magazine ranked [ [link removed] ] Kentucky in the top five nationally and second in the South Central region for economic development projects per capita in its 2024 Governor’s Cup rankings. Site Selection also placed [ [link removed]. ] Kentucky second in the South Central region and No. 6 nationally in its 2025 Prosperity Cup ranking, which recognizes state-level economic development agencies for their success in landing capital investment projects.

The latest recognition from Site Selection magazine builds on the best five-year period for economic growth in state history.

Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has announced more than 1,200 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling over $36 billion in announced investments, creating more than 62,000 jobs. This is the highest investment figure secured during the tenure of any governor in the commonwealth’s history and $15 billion more than the next highest total.

The robust job creation has been accompanied by rising wages across the commonwealth. Since 2022, the average incentivized hourly wage has topped $26 in three consecutive years for the first time.

Gov. Beshear has announced some of the largest economic development projects in state history, which have solidified Kentucky as the electric vehicle battery production capital of the United States: Ford Motor Co. and SK On’s transformative $5.8 billion, 5,000-job BlueOval SK Battery Park [ [link removed] ] in Hardin County; AESC [ [link removed] ]’s $2 billion, 2,000-job gigafactory project in Warren County; Toyota [ [link removed] ]’s $1.3 billion investment in Scott County; and Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing [ [link removed] ]’s $712 million investment, creating 1,572 jobs in Shelby County, among others.

The Governor’s administration also secured [ [link removed] ] the largest General Fund budget surplus and Rainy Day Fund. In 2023, Kentucky recorded over 2 million jobs filled for the first time ever and has stayed above that number ever since.

Kentucky also secured rating increases from major credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings [ [link removed] ], S&P Global Ratings [ [link removed] ] and Moody’s Investors Service [ [link removed] ].

Gov. Beshear also announced [ [link removed] ] a new initiative, called New Kentucky Home [ [link removed] ], to increase economic investment, attain and attract talent, and increase tourism across the state.

To see the full 2025 America’s Best Counties rankings, visit siteselection.com [ [link removed] ].

Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at "NewKentuckyHome.ky.gov" [ [link removed] ]. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion at "facebook.com/CEDkygov" [ [link removed] ]", on Twitter ""@CEDkygov" [ [link removed] ]", Instagram ""@CEDkygov" [ [link removed] ]" and ""LinkedIn" [ [link removed] ].

*###*






TEAM KENTUCKY [ [link removed] ]

Questions? Contact us [ [link removed] ]

Facebook [ [link removed] ]   Twitter [ [link removed] ]   Instagram [ [link removed] ]   YouTube [ [link removed] ]   GovDelivery [ [link removed] ]

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Manage Subscriptions [ [link removed] ]  |  Unsubscribe All [ [link removed] ]  |  Help [ [link removed] ]

View or Share Online [ [link removed] ]





________________________________________________________________________

This email was sent to [email protected] using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Governor of Kentucky · 700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100 · Frankfort, KY 40601 GovDelivery logo [ [link removed] ]