FT: Miami ranked best city in America for overseas businesses

According to the inaugural FT-Nikkei Investing in America Rankings, Miami has been ranked the best city in the United States for foreign multinationals to do business. Orlando came in second place, followed by New York (3rd), Boston (4th) and Houston (5th).

The rankings are a data-driven look at which US cities are best positioned to attract overseas investment. The research tracked how cities performed across eight criteria, including workforce and talent; openness; business environment; foreign business needs; quality of life; investment trends; and aftercare, says the FT.

Miami finished first in the rankings by succeeding where it counts: last year, it pulled in the most foreign direct investment per capita of any city studied, the FT continued. It also scored high in catering to the special needs of overseas companies, including an international airport with dozens of non-stop flights to foreign destinations and close access to two of the largest shipping ports in the country.

“We saw Miami become a magnet for domestic investment during the pandemic, with financiers from New York and tech entrepreneurs from San Francisco moving there. It’s become clear that business executives overseas are following suit,” said Peter Spiegel, US managing editor at the FT. “The city has always been the US gateway to Latin America, but what’s changing is that European and Middle Eastern investors are now putting it high on their list, too.”

The FT and Nikkei say they launched the Investing in American Rankings to highlight the challenges facing overseas multinationals in the US at a time of increasing protectionism in Washington D.C., mounting competition for capital from China and rising barriers to overseas talent in many US jurisdictions. The ranking draws on the expertise of both the FT and Nikkei, as some of the leading news organisations in Europe and Asia, with regard to cross-border investment in the US.

For more information on the FT-Nikkei Investing in America Ranking, including the full methodology, click here.