ECON DEV 101: What Site Selectors Look For

When an industrial company is deciding where to locate a new facility, they don’t just spin a globe and pick a spot. They hire professionals called site selectors—whose entire job is to narrow the options based on data, logistics, and risk.

So, what are they looking for?

• Workforce: Can we find the people to fill the jobs?

• Sites & Buildings: Is there a place ready (or nearly ready) to go?

• Infrastructure: Water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, broadband, roads—are they in place at the site?

• Incentives: What’s on the table to make this deal happen?

• Quality of Life: Will people want to live here? Will they stay?

• Speed & Responsiveness: Can this community act quickly and professionally?

How Okmulgee Can Show Up Strong:

1. Workforce Partnerships – OSUIT, Green Country Tech, and Muscogee Nation form a powerful pipeline of skilled workers—and we’re actively aligning education with industry. That gets attention.

2. Certified Sites – We may not have dozens of options, but we’re building a small portfolio of strategically positioned, development-ready sites. That’s a big deal.

3. Tulsa MSA Advantage – We punch above our weight by being part of the Tulsa Metro Statistical Area. That means a labor shed of nearly 1 million people is in play.

4. Collaborative Spirit – When a project lands here, the team shows up. OADC, City Hall, utility partners, workforce players—we get in the same room and make it work.

5. Proximity + Affordability – We’re right on US Highway 75 and a close enough to I-40 and I-44, as well as to inland ports and international airport which is important for moving goods and people—but land and utility costs remain far more competitive than larger cities.

Where We’re Still Building: Yes, we’ve got some gaps—modern housing stock, limited entertainment options, and persistent perception challenges around our public schools. We’re also aware that certain neighborhoods show signs of disinvestment—and that matters. It affects how potential companies, workers, and investors view our readiness.

But here’s the truth: site selectors don’t expect perfection.

What they do expect is transparency, readiness, and momentum.

Final Word:

Site selection is a competition—but it’s also a courtship.

Communities that win are the ones who know who they are, where they’re going, and

can back it up with data and alignment.