Click here to access the complete list of all 362 metropolitan areas

Since the beginning of time, cities have come and gone based upon their proximity to a major transportation artery. In fact, nothing is quite so important to a region's economy than the transportation infrastructure upon which it moves. Without a doubt, transportation is the foundation upon which all logistics is built.

 

Whether a company is setting up a manufacturing facility, distribution center, retail outlet or whatever, it is absolutelycritical that the location it chooses be supported by a robust transportation infrastructure. Regardless of the specific type of facility, it will need to be able to quickly and economically move raw materials, supplies and finished products in and out.

Sure, it's important to look closely at other factors, such as the local work force, business climate, taxes and real estate prices — to mention just a few. But all of those factors can be mitigated in some form or fashion. Not having the transportation infrastructure you require, however, will almost always get a location removed from your list of possibilities.

So important is this as a site location factor that, for the past five years, Expansion Management and Logistics Today magazines have teamed up to produce our annual Site Selector ranking of the most logistics-friendly metros in the U.S.

The study evaluates the overall logistics infrastructure of our nation's 362 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) based upon 10 major categories, including the transportation and distribution (T&D) industry, T&D work force, road infrastructure, road congestion, road conditions, interstate highway access, vehicle taxes and fees, railroad access, water port access and air cargo access.

Topping this year's list as the most logisticsfriendly metro is the metropolitan New York area, followed by Houston, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit.

Rounding out the top 10 are St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco-Oakland, Kansas City and Jacksonville, Fla.

The Site Selector ranks metro areas according to 10 major categories, as described below. Together, they give a pretty comprehensive overview of a region's logistics infrastructure:

Transportation and Distribution Industry. This category attempts to get a feel for the depth and strength of the metrowide T&D industry and includes the number of companies in the metro area that are engaged in the transportation and warehousing (T&D) industry sector, along with the annual revenue generated by the T&D industry sector. Information comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The top five metros in this category are Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Miami.

Transportation and Distribution Work Force. This category attempts to get a feel for the depth and cost of the metrowide T&D work force and includes the total annual payroll of companies in the T&D industry sector, the total number of employees, the average salary and the T&D revenue per employee. Information comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The top five metros in this category are St. Louis, Louisville, Fayetteville, Ark., Miami and El Paso, Tex.

Interstate Highway Access. This category focuses on the interstate highway infrastructure and includes the number of interstate highways that pass through the metro area, as well as the number of interstate auxiliary routes (i.e., beltways, bypasses, etc.). Information comes from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The top five metros in this category are New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas-Fort Worth and Cleveland.

Road Conditions. This category includes the average roughness of the metro area's roads, as well as the percentage of bridges that are obsolete or structurally deficient, including five-year trends, according to FHWA information.

Road Congestion. Whether a metro area has adequate roads depends upon the amount of traffic using those roads. What is considered an adequate infrastructure for Huntsville, Ala., is clearly insufficient for a city like Atlanta. This category includes such things as roadway miles per capita, total miles of freeways, average daily freeway traffic and average daily traffic per freeway lane. Information comes from the FHWA.

Road Infrastructure. This category attempts to look into the future in terms of keeping up with an adequate road infrastructure. It includes public roads mileage, capital outlay for roads and bridges, highway maintenance per mile and spending for highway law enforcement. according to FHWA data.

Vehicle Taxes and Fees. This category includes highway user taxes and fees, as well as motor fuel excise taxes. Data on state and federal highway user taxes and fees was provided by the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, while data on motor fuel excise taxes was provided by the Federation of Tax Administrators.

Railroad Access. This category includes the number of railroad carriers that service a metro. The data comes from ALK Technologies Inc.

The top five metros in this category are Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Water Port Access. This category includes total tonnage for all ports located within the confines of the metro area and comes from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center.

The top five metros in this category are New Orleans, Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Beaumont, Tex.

Air Cargo Access. This category includes the number of air courier companies, as well as the total air cargo tonnage for the metro. The data comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The top five metros in this category are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

It is important to remember that the overall rankings represent a city's overall strength in all categories. However, for your company's purposes, perhaps not every category is important as others.

For that reason, it's a good idea to look at a metro's ranking in each category and assign your own weight to that category based upon its importance to you.

For example, if your company doesn't use rail or water or air cargo, then those categories are obviously less important. Conversely, if your company does rely heavily on one or more of those modes, then the ground transportation categories should be weighted less. That is how the Site Selector is designed to be used.

Along those lines, a few words about rankings in general. Rankings are simply a reflection of how we as individuals make decisions — we gather data, evaluate it, prioritize it and see what comes up.

The most important factor when looking at ratings is to understand the criteria upon which those ratings/rankings are based. If the initial set of criteria makes sense to you, then the results should make sense to you as well.

If it doesn't, then you need to go back and reexamine your criteria. In other words, if you don't like the results, don't shoot the messenger.

Editor's note: The rankings for the Site Selector are based on data for calendar year 2004, and thus do not factor in the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Bill King is chief editor of Expansion Management magazine, Logistics Today's sister magazine, and can be reached at billking@penton.com. Michael Keating is the senior research editor of Expansion Management and can be reached at mkeating@penton.com

2005 National Rank	2004 National Rank	Change from 2004	Metropolitan Area	T&D Industry Metro Rank	Work Force Labor Metro Rank	Road Infrastructure Metro Rank	Road D/C/S Metro Rank	Road Condition State Rank	Interstate Highways Metro Rank	Taxes & Fees State Rank	Railroad State Rank	Waterborne Commerce Metro Rank	Air Cargo Metro Rank
1	10	+9	New York, NY	3	38	5	238	339	1	170	2	3	1
2	6	+4	Houston, TX	4	33	145	322	134	52	90	17	2	6
3	4	+1	Chicago, IL	1	65	117	341	75	2	288	1	10	3
4	1	-3	Cleveland, OH	24	46	120	112	186	5	241	17	31	38
5	9	+4	Detroit, MI	8	41	130	348	221	5	70	7	27	23
6	2	-4	St. Louis, MO	12	1	202	264	179	5	177	5	21	27
7	5	-2	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	13	96	213	291	18	5	169	7	41	25
8	24	+16	San Francisco-Oakland, CA	17	87	41	209	288	12	184	34	17	10
9	7	-2	Kansas City, MO	22	11	267	93	208	9	165	17	51	33
10	21	+11	Jacksonville, FL	27	21	17	283	24	52	251	63	29	48
11	14	-3	Louisville, KY	29	2	205	220	214	15	121	10	39	55
12	13	-2	Philadelphia, PA	7	60	82	283	328	15	219	3	6	12
13	8	-5	Baltimore, MD	19	30	118	241	277	3	220	34	16	22
14	16	+2	Los Angeles, CA	2	26	41	302	288	9	184	102	4	2
15	58	+43	Boston, MA	10	55	83	270	341	23	139	34	23	7
16	22	+6	Miami, FL	5	4	17	355	24	36	251	151	19	5
17	26	+10	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA	39	86	199	233	178	36	61	34	15	39
18	11	-7	Pittsburgh, PA	25	99	84	82	342	23	340	4	14	10
19	20	+1	Cincinnati, OH	28	66	185	234	185	15	157	34	37	28
20	61	+41	Washington, DC	10	18	187	293	209	9	122	63	72	4
21	25	+4	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	8	90	145	279	134	4	90	7	178	9
22	35	+13	Seattle-Tacoma, WA	14	78	72	247	241	52	310	15	13	18
23	15	-8	New Orleans, LA	20	26	296	252	277	52	62	17	1	42
24	12	-12	Atlanta, GA	6	100	278	341	4	12	1	34	178	8
25	17	-8	Savannah, GA	84	12	278	244	4	52	1	63	28	108
Source: Based on material developed by Expansion Management and Logistics Today

2005 National Rank	2004 National Rank	Change from 2004	Metropolitan Area	D Industry Metro Rank	Work Force Labor Metro Rank	Road Infrastructure Metro Rank	Road D/C/S Metro Rank	Road Condition State Rank	Interstate Highways Metro Rank	Taxes & Fees State Rank	Railroad State Rank	Waterborne Commerce Metro Rank	Air Cargo Metro Rank
26	27	+1	Nashville, TN	36	64	226	231	81	36	84	102	48	43
27	31	+4	San Diego, CA	34	10	41	249	288	23	184	102	55	24
28	23	-5	Indianapolis, IN	26	23	145	323	87	12	128	34	178	34
29	38	+9	Memphis, TN	22	122	274	336	133	52	123	34	30	16
30	41	+11	Buffalo, NY	45	14	6	157	317	81	297	6	65	58
31	30	-1	Albany, NY	80	96	6	144	317	15	297	34	40	69
32	74	+43	Sacramento, CA	49	32	41	303	288	52	184	34	73	36
33	37	+4	San Antonio, TX	42	19	145	172	134	23	90	102	178	45
34	56	+22	Chattanooga, TN	100	77	252	176	49	52	29	63	54	113
35	52	+17	Rochester, NY	77	28	6	146	317	52	297	10	79	65
36	64	+28	Phoenix, AZ	15	39	111	339	44	81	214	24	178	13
37	39	+2	Portland, OR	18	89	212	289	220	36	336	10	20	32
38	36	-2	Tulsa, OK	44	92	296	101	332	81	16	34	58	61
39	81	+42	Denver, CO	21	71	104	296	125	15	229	63	178	15
40	33	-7	Richmond, VA	45	109	188	133	161	15	36	225	59	49
41	63	+22	Syracuse, NY	69	37	6	61	317	36	297	102	75	67
42	40	-2	Birmingham, AL	50	69	214	244	197	23	48	24	178	56
43	19	-24	Toledo, OH	75	108	120	257	186	15	241	34	34	104
44	42	-2	Milwaukee, WI	33	24	241	335	53	36	352	63	52	44
45	50	+5	Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL	31	16	17	362	24	23	251	310	12	20
46	59	+13	Charleston, SC	61	13	335	222	169	120	20	63	25	84
47	34	-13	Columbus, OH	32	68	120	226	186	36	241	34	178	37
48	28	-20	Mobile, AL	70	63	214	272	197	52	48	24	83	112
49	59	+10	Little Rock, AR	61	56	258	76	210	23	171	34	178	74
50	78	+28	Salt Lake City, UT	35	60	145	333	19	23	222	102	178	35
The complete list of all 362 metropolitan areas can be found at http://logisticstoday.com/siteselection/SiteSelector-top362cities.pdf