Tampa claims No. 1 spot on best cities for foreign businesses list

The city of Tampa moved up 26 spots in the Financial Times-Nikkei's third annual Investing in America rankings, going all the way to No. 1. In moving up the chart, Tampa bested last year’s No. 1 city, Houston, and also jumped over some cities it's sometimes compared to, such as Austin, Atlanta and Charlotte. 

The British daily newspaper, owned by a Japanese holding company, analyzed four dozen metrics of importance to foreign investors to measure cities across America and determine the rankings, according to a statement from the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council. A new category for this year’s ranking, according to the magazine, is trade-war resilience, “which takes into account a local economy’s reliance on imports and exports.” 

Tampa scored well in that category and also did well in workforce and talent, openness and quality of life, among other factors. It scored a 67 overall, two points ahead of six cities tied with 65. (The second-place cities are Seattle, Raleigh, Orlando, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh.)