Louisiana is State of the Year!

For the third straight year, Southern Business & Development magazine has recognized Louisiana as "State of the Year" in the South. But this year Louisiana isn't tied with Tennessee like it was in each of the two prior years. Louisiana Economic Development says, this year, our state far outdistanced second-place Kansas -- scoring more than twice as many points-per-million residents. North Carolina was third; and Tennessee fell all the way to fourth among the Southern states. In addition, several individual Louisiana markets ranked highly as well. New Orleans tied Charlotte, N.C., for Major Market of the Year with Baton Rouge placing third. Lake Charles won the Mid-Market of the Year honor with Monroe earning honorable mention. And St. James Parish drew a Special Recognition award from the magazine as the parish or county within a metro area that generated the most impressive job-creation results across the South.