Site Selection, one of the most highly-read national magazines that covers corporate real estate and economic development, has recognized the Lehigh Valley as the second best performing region for economic development in the United States in its prestigious Governor’s Cup Awards rankings for 2013.

This is the highest ranking the Lehigh Valley has ever received – up seven positions from last year. This marks the sixth consecutive year Lehigh Valley has been ranked in the Top 10.

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro area competes against other metro areas with populations that range between 200,000 and 1,000,000 people. A total of 46 new and expanded corporate facility projects were completed in the Lehigh Valley last year. Lehigh Valley’s top-10 finish helped Pennsylvania rank fourth nationally.

The Omaha-Council Bluff, Nebraska-Iowa metro area captured the first-place position with 48 projects.

“This is a significant jump for the Lehigh Valley and our ranking continues a trend of being recognized throughout the nation for economic growth and development,” said Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation.

“This recognition is important because it’s coming from one of the most-respected publications in the country – a magazine with an audience of those power brokers who make major economic development decisions,” Cunningham said. “This is a recognition for all Lehigh Valley entities and individuals who understand and work to support the role regionalism plays in making the Lehigh Valley a national success story.”

Some of the projects that led to this honor bestowed by Site Selection were Wal-Mart, Bimbo Bakeries, Coca-Cola, United Fiber and Data, Kraft Foods Group, and Yourway Transportation.

To qualify for Site Selection’s Award, the new corporate facilities and expansions must have at least $1 million in new investment or re-investment, 20,000 or more square feet of new construction, or they must create at least 50 new jobs. The projects cannot be government, educational, retail or residential construction.

Published by Conway Data, Site Selection is the oldest publication in the corporate real estate and economic development field, and has been awarding its prestigious Governor’s Cup annually since 1978 to states and metropolitan areas with the most capital projects and investments. The magazine’s circulation base consists of 49,000 executives involved in corporate site selection decisions.