Kentucky finishes in top five in business climate ranking
- Moves up from 8th in 2014 to 3rd in 2015

Site Selection.com ranked the Bluegrass State third behind Georgia and North Carolina in their 2015 survey of site selectors. In 2014, Kentucky was ranked 8th. This year, the state came in 1st in "new plants per capita" in 2014 and 2015.

The survey is, according to Mark Arend, the author of the article, "...a closely watched barometer of which states have the right mix of actual project successes and high favorability as indicated by site selectors."

Kentucky scored 585 points to take the number three spot. Tennessee came in 7th with 531 points. Ohio came in 5th with 573 point, Missouri ranked 23rd with 356 points and Illinois 25th with 353 points.

The top state for three consecutive years is Georgia. Gov. Nathan Deal credits his state's reduction of utility taxes on large industry, reducing red tape and providing a well trained work force. Deal said going forward, Georgia will focus on early childhood education.

To read Georgia's success story, follow "More" below.

"We've now put our emphasis earlier in the system -- we already have one of the better pre-K programs in the country. Part of our agenda this next legislative session will be to try to increase the salaries of pre-K teachers and to make sure they have qualified and well-paid assistants to work with them. That's the beginning of the process. We've also put more emphasis on the first three years of school, to make sure that at the end of third grade, those children are reading at the third grade level. We're having great success with that."

With a new administration taking over in January, it will be interesting to see if Governor Bevin will keep Kentucky in the top five.