State of innovation

Texas deemed No. 1 state for economic development in new report

Dallas-Fort Worth lands at No. 3 for the most economic development projects secured last year.

Photo courtesy of Dallas CVB

Texas is on a 14-year winning streak as the top state for attracting job-creating business location and expansion projects.

Once again, Texas has claimed Site Selection magazine’s Governor’s Cup. This year’s honor recognizes the state with the highest number of economic development projects in 2025. Texas landed more than 1,400 projects last year.

Ron Starner, executive vice president of Site Selection, calls Texas “a dynasty in economic development.”

Among metro areas, Dallas-Fort Worth lands at No. 3 for the most economic development projects secured last year behind No. 2 Houston and No. 1 Chicago.

In 2025, Fortune ranked Texas as the U.S. state with the second-highest number of Fortune 500 headquarters (54), preceded by California (58) and followed by New York (53).

Texas retained the Governor’s Cup by gaining over 1,400 business location and expansion projects last year, representing more than $75 billion in capital investments and producing more than 42,000 new jobs.

Site Selection says Texas’ project count for 2025 handily beat second-place Illinois (680 projects) and third-place Ohio (467 projects). Texas’ number for 2025 represented 18 percent of all qualifying U.S. projects tracked by Site Selection.

“You can see that we are on a trajectory to ensure our economic diversification is going to inoculate us in good times, as well as bad times, to ensure our economy is still going to grow, still create new jobs, prosperity, and opportunities for Texans going forward,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.

---

A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

economy business texas

Innovation highway

Amazon's Zoox robotaxis steer into Dallas, revving up rivalry with Waymo

Photo courtesy of Zoox

undefined

Ride-hailing robotaxis operated by Amazon-owned Zoox will soon hit the roads in Dallas, alongside those operated by chief competitor Waymo.

Zoox is expanding its test fleet to Dallas and Phoenix after launching pilot projects in Austin, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Zoox says in a blog post that Dallas and Phoenix are “rapidly growing metropolitan areas with high demand for ride-hailing and first- and last-mile connections. Expanding into these cities allows us to test in sprawling environments, differentiating this … from our testing in other dense metro areas like San Francisco.”

In Dallas and Phoenix, Zoox vehicles will be on the streets of centrally located neighborhoods, the company says.

“Dallas provides a valuable testing ground to refine our AI against diverse weather and complex road networks,” Zoox adds.

The Zoox test fleet, which comprises retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, has been traveling on public roadways since 2017, starting with the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas. Amazon bought the company in 2020 for $1.3 billion.

When Zoox tests its robotaxis in a new market, it initially focuses on mapping streets before moving on to autonomous driving.

“There is always a safety driver behind the wheel who can take over at any time, disengaging the AI if needed,” the company says.

After finishing its tests with SUVs in Dallas and Phoenix, Zoox will start testing its box-shaped, purpose-built robotaxis.

In the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas, their vehicles have traveled more than one million miles and served more than 300,000 ride-hailing passengers.

Zoox joins Waymo in introducing self-driving taxis to Dallas. Last month, Waymo announced its entry into the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, Florida, markets.

Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, says it has logged more 20 million ride-hailing trips in 10 cities, including Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.

“Dallas is excited for Waymo to launch operations in our city, providing Dallas residents and visitors with new, innovative transportation options,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in February. “The availability of Waymo’s fully autonomous ride service further cements Dallas’ reputation as one of America’s most innovative and dynamic cities.”

cars transportation innovation