Site Selection Magazine has named Wabash No. 39 on its list of top U.S. micropolitans, cities with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. Photo by City of Wabash.

News Release

WABASH — The city of Wabash has tied as No. 39 on Site Selection Magazine’s 2024 “Top 100 Micropolitans” list, ranking cities of 10,000 to 50,000 people which cover at least one county. Wabash had previously ranked No. 84 in 2024.

Cities are ranked by how many qualifying new and expanded facilities per capita occur within its borders. In total, Indiana ranked No. 5 in states with most top 100 micropolities. Ranking ahead of it, from lowest to highest, were North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia and Ohio at No. 1. Indiana also ranked No. 6 in 2024 states with the most qualified projects per capita, up three places from 2023.

Other Indiana micropolities that made the ranking were Auburn, tied at No. 8; Angola, tied at No. 19; Kendallville, tied with Wabash, Plymouth and Richmond at No. 39 and Crawfordsville, tied at No. 70 with Huntington and Jasper.

In the magazine’s ranking of micropolitans Findlay, Ohio, once again was tops among the nation’s 543 micropolitan areas, tallying 24 projects last year after scoring 25 the previous year. Second place went to Greenville, Ohio, with 16 projects, followed by New Philadelphia-Dover, Ohio and Wooster, Ohio, in a tie for No. 3.

Populated all year long is the Conway Data research team led by Daniel Boyer and Karen Medernach. Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database focuses on new corporate end-user facility projects with significant impact, including headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D operations, data centers and logistics sites, among others.

It does not track retail and government projects, nor schools, hospitals or infrastructure investments. New facilities and expansions included in the analyses must meet at least one of three criteria: a capital investment of at least $1 million, at least 20 new jobs or at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.