N.C. earns top 10 ranking for attracting corporations, jobs

The good news: Site Selection Magazine, a journal that tracks the fierce interstate competition for corporate relocations, expansions and jobs, says North Carolina ranks No. 7 among states for the number of corporate facility projects landed in 2013. The Tarheel state pulled in 223 projects meeting met Site Selection's criteria of involving one or more of the following: a minimum capital commercial investment of $1 million, 20,000 square feet or more of new construction or creation of 50 or more new jobs.

The bad news: oil-rich Texas, which topped the last, raked in 657 such projects -- nearly three times as many as North Carolina. The magazine awarded the Lone Star State its Governor's Cup. A second went to Nebraska, which had the most projects per capita at 109.

(Interestingly, South Carolina, which Gov. Pat McCrory and other N.C. officials are constantly eyeing as next-door competition, didn't make the top 10 of either list).