US location and incentives: what Texas, Florida and Ohio expect

In the US, states, counties and cities compete openly for new businesses. They offer grants, tax credits, property tax abatements and free employee training. This guide explains how these incentives work, which programs Texas, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Ohio offer, the thresholds they set, and why the timing of your location decision helps determine whether you qualify.

When you look for a new site in Europe, talks with the local economic development office usually revolve around land and permits. In the US, the conversation is different. States, counties and cities compete openly for jobs, and they put money on the table: grants, tax credits, property tax abatements and paid training for your future employees.

This guide is part of our overview of US market entry, where choosing a location is one of several building blocks. Our 10 facts about US market entry show why the move fails on red tape far less often than people fear. Here we cover two questions: what criteria should guide your choice of location, and which incentives depend on that choice?

1Business first, incentives second

Your location follows from your business. Where are your customers, and how fast do you need to deliver? Where will you find the skilled people you need? Is there a hub for your industry where suppliers, universities and competitors already are? How easily can you reach the site from Europe? A factory serving automotive customers belongs somewhere different from a software office or an e-commerce warehouse.

The US Department of Commerce says it plainly in its investor guide: companies themselves are responsible for researching, analyzing and selecting their location. Its SelectUSA program supports foreign investors and lists the economic development agency and contact person for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. By its own account, SelectUSA has facilitated more than $535 billion in investment and over 290,000 jobs in the US. But incentives are decided by the states and local governments, not by SelectUSA.

Where foreign capital actually flows, and where new operations rather than acquisitions are created, is shown in our analysis of the 10 most popular states for foreign direct investment; the overall figures are in our article on foreign direct investment in the US. Where to incorporate is a separate question. The state of formation and the state of operation need not be the same, but a company from another state registers where it does business, in Texas for example under Chapter 9 of the Business Organizations Code.

2How incentives work in the US

Most programs fall into one of four groups. States pay grants and grant credits against their own taxes. Counties, cities and school districts temporarily waive part of the property tax on new buildings and equipment. Almost every state offers training programs that prepare new employees at the state's expense. And infrastructure such as roads, water and power connections has its own funding pots, which often go to the municipality rather than the company.

Two features run through almost every program. First, they are performance-based. Under the Texas Enterprise Fund, no money flows until the recipient has signed an incentive agreement and met the agreed job and wage targets for the relevant period; if it misses them, the Governor's office can claw back amounts already paid. Under North Carolina's Job Development Investment Grant, the state's Department of Commerce and Department of Revenue review performance every year before paying. Second, states distinguish between statutory credits, available to anyone who meets the conditions, and discretionary programs, where an agency decides case by case.

For discretionary programs, timing is everything. The Texas Enterprise Fund requires that a Texas site be competing with at least one realistic site outside the state and that the company has not yet decided. The program explicitly names a signed lease, a land purchase, hiring employees and a public announcement as signs that a decision has already been made. North Carolina's JDIG is likewise awarded only in competitive situations. So if you sign a lease first and ask about incentives afterwards, you have already answered the question yourself for these programs.

3Texas: Enterprise Fund, JETI and local abatements

The Texas Enterprise Fund awards cash grants for projects where Texas is competing with other states. The new jobs must total more than 75 full-time positions in urban areas or more than 25 in rural areas, and the average wage must at least match the county average wage for the entire term. The program expects a significant capital investment, support from the city, county or school district (usually in the form of local incentives of their own), and an established, financially sound company in an industry that could just as well build elsewhere. The amount follows a standard model based on average wage, hiring schedule, number of jobs and investment. Every application goes through an eleven-step review, and the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House must all approve unanimously.

For large, capital-intensive projects there is JETI, the Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act, introduced with House Bill 5 of the 88th Legislature. JETI allows an agreement between the company, the school district and the Governor's office that limits the project's taxable value for school taxes by 50 percent for ten years, and by a further 25 percent in a qualified Opportunity Zone. Eligible sectors include manufacturing, dispatchable power generation, advanced technology and critical infrastructure; renewable energy and energy storage facilities are excluded. The applicant must show alternative sites, post a performance bond before the agreement is signed and pay the school district an application fee of $30,000. The table shows the thresholds by population.

At the local level, cities, counties and special districts can agree with an owner under Chapter 312 of the Tax Code to exempt increases in the property's value from property tax for up to ten years; school districts may not enter into such agreements. The Enterprise Zone Program refunds state sales tax on certain expenditures to companies nominated by their municipality, scaled by investment and jobs. Important for exporters with a warehouse in Texas: goods brought into Texas and shipped out of the state within 175 days may qualify as freeport goods and be exempt from property tax on inventory. Why Texas is the firm's location of choice is explained in What makes Texas so attractive as a US location; forming a company there is covered on our page on company formation in Texas.

4Florida: a tax credit for large investments

Florida supports large investments through the Capital Investment Tax Credit under Section 220,191 of the Florida Statutes. One of the categories in the statute is a new or expanding facility that creates at least 100 new jobs in one of the high-impact sectors designated by the Department of Commerce, which include aerospace, automotive and semiconductors. Below $25 million in cumulative investment, there is no credit. The annual credit is up to 5 percent of eligible capital costs, for no more than 20 years from the start of operations, and as a rule it can only be applied against the corporate income tax generated by the project itself. It cannot be carried forward or back.

The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund under Section 288,101, by contrast, pays for public infrastructure and for training at state colleges and technical centers. The statute expressly rules out the fund benefiting a single company alone, so it helps your project through better infrastructure or training programs, not through a check. The former tax refund for Qualified Target Industries, Section 288,106, no longer appears in the 2026 edition of the Florida Statutes. If you want to set up a company in Florida, you will find the process on our page on company formation in Florida.

5Georgia: credits per job and workforce training

Georgia offers a statewide Job Tax Credit for businesses in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, processing, telecommunications, broadcasting, tourism, research and development, biomedical manufacturing, and services for elderly and disabled people; retail is excluded except in the 40 least developed counties. The amount depends on the county's tier, which the state sets anew every year: from $3,500 per new job in Tier 1 with at least two new jobs, down to $750 in Tier 4 with at least 25 jobs. The average wage of each new job must exceed that of the county with the lowest average wage in the state, and the employer must offer health insurance, though it does not have to pay for it if it does not do so for existing employees either.

In Tiers 1 and 2, the credit can offset up to 100 percent of a year's state income tax; in Tiers 3 and 4, up to 50 percent. In Tier 1 and in certain less developed urban areas, it can also be applied against withholding tax. Unused credits for jobs from tax year 2025 onward can be carried forward for five years. Georgia also offers Quick Start, a program that designs and delivers customized workforce training for companies that invest and create jobs in Georgia.

6North and South Carolina: grants funded by payroll tax

North Carolina's Job Development Investment Grant provides performance-based, discretionary cash grants, and only when the state is competing with other locations. Payments are made annually for up to twelve years and are calculated as a share of the new taxes generated by the jobs created. The amount reflects the location, the county tier, the number of new jobs, wages compared with the county, the investment and the industry. Very large projects have special categories: with 1,750 jobs and $500 million or more, up to 90 percent of the new payroll tax for up to 20 years; with 3,000 jobs and one billion dollars or more, for up to 30 years. There is also the One North Carolina Fund, which the governor can draw on at short notice when competing for projects.

South Carolina combines statutory and discretionary tools. The Job Tax Credit is available to any company that creates and maintains new full-time jobs; the amount depends on the number of jobs and the county. The Job Development Credit lets selected companies use part of their employees' payroll tax to reimburse approved project costs. Headquarters get a 20 percent credit on certain building, lease and equipment costs; manufacturing, research, distribution and headquarters get a five-year exemption from county property tax on new investment, plus an investment credit of 0.5 to 2.5 percent on manufacturing equipment. The readySC program recruits and trains staff for new or expanding operations at no cost to the company.

7Ohio: a private company runs economic development

Ohio does things its own way. Economic development is handled by JobsOhio, which describes itself as the state's private economic development corporation, funded not by tax dollars but by an independent private source. JobsOhio provides grants and loans and connects companies with the relevant agencies for state tax incentives. According to JobsOhio, grant decisions depend on several project factors, including the number of jobs, the additional payroll, the investment in fixed assets, the project's return and its location.

Because JobsOhio says it does not work with a fixed amount per job, the size of an award is hard to estimate in advance. So here too, whether a location in Ohio is right for you comes down first to customers, staff and logistics.

8What the federal government contributes

At the federal level, what you get for choosing a location is mainly tools. Besides SelectUSA, one of them is the Foreign-Trade Zone under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, 19 U.S.C. 81a to 81u, approved by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board at the Department of Commerce. Goods can be brought into such a zone without being subject to the customs laws, unless the law provides otherwise; there they may be stored, sold, repackaged, assembled, processed or manufactured, and then exported or entered into US customs territory. Goods subject to a Section 301 duty follow a special status rule; the details are in the guide to tariffs, origin and customs clearance.

One more point applies to you as soon as you form your company: a new US company with foreign ownership of at least 10 percent must report to the Bureau of Economic Analysis within 45 days on Form BE-13. If the expected costs do not exceed $40 million, the exemption claim is enough.

9The right order and the pitfalls

The program conditions dictate an order. First, use your operational criteria to narrow things down to two or three locations in different states. Then talk to the economic development agencies of those states and their local governments, ideally through a representative, before you sign a lease, buy land, hire anyone or announce anything. Decide only once you have the offers in writing.

Read every incentive agreement for what it is: a commitment. It locks in jobs, wages and investment for years, requires reporting and provides for clawbacks if targets are missed. With the Texas Enterprise Fund, it also includes a joint press release with the Governor's office that makes the project and the award public. Plan your headcount realistically, including for the case that the US market grows more slowly than you hoped.

Incentives require a company that does business in the state and employs people there. How to structure the subsidiary and which sales model suits it are covered in the guides on selling in the USA and on branch or subsidiary. And if you or your executives are moving from Europe to the new location, you will need a visa; that is what the visa roadmap for company formation is for.

In short

• Customers, staff, logistics and industry determine the location; incentives can tip the decision between equally good places, but they cannot replace it.
• US incentives are mostly performance-based: money only flows once jobs, wages and investment are reached, and many programs claw it back if targets are missed.
• Discretionary programs such as the Texas Enterprise Fund or North Carolina's JDIG require genuine competition between locations; if you have already signed the lease, you are out of the running for the Texas Enterprise Fund.
• There are also statutory credits such as the Job Tax Credit in Georgia and South Carolina, local property tax exemptions and free training programs.
• SelectUSA at the US Department of Commerce lists the economic development agency for each state; the states and local governments decide on incentives themselves.

How we help you

• US market entrySubsidiary, staff, taxes: your start in the US market.
• US Company FormationLLC, Inc or LP in Delaware, Florida, California, New York, Texas or Wyoming.
• Form a CorporationThe US corporation (Inc) for growth, investors and your visa.
• PayrollPayroll, payroll taxes and filings for your employees in the USA.
• Visa Roadmap for Company FormationFormation and visa in one plan, so the company carries the visa.
• Company formation consultationEntity type, state and tax consequences, before you commit.