(7-7-23) Two Stateline area counties have been recognized by Site Selection Magazine as America’s Best Counties By Project Per Capita. Hancock County was ranked as the #1 county in the US, while Shelby County was ranked #8 in the Top 20 listing.

Dan Sheaffer, director of Findlay-Hancock Economic Development, says –

“The continuity of communication with the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, the Findlay city manager, and the Findlay City Council.”

“Development policies evolved over the past 40 years have been generally led by the business community represented by Findlay-Hancock Economic Development, a private organization. Sweeping changes are not the norm, and steady policies have resulted in Enterprise Zones, a robust regional planning commission, a citywide Community Reinvestment Area and a Design Review District, to name a few. Such policies both incentivize and protect investment. The old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ could not ring truer and has resulted in stability of policy over multiple administrations.”

Shelby County, Ohio, with a population of 48,000, also made the top 20 list this year. Its principal city of Sidney is about an hour’s drive south down Interstate 75 from Findlay. When we asked Sheaffer why so many small Ohio counties outperform the rest of the country, he said that-

“counties in Ohio not linked to large metropolitan statistical areas tend to be lean, agile and do more with less in terms of resources. Findlay-Hancock County has demonstrated the ability to not only play in the economic development arena with its larger metro neighbors but does so competitively. Retention of legacy companies is paramount and smaller counties can do a better job working purposefully with the leadership of those companies.”

Across the border in Indiana, who were also listed in the Top 20, #13 DeKalb County and #15 Steuben County.