Location Comparison
Compare locations without rebuilding the research.
Compare the markets that matter to a project on one common view. See where each place leads or trails across workforce, cost, risk, community conditions, industries, and incentives.
Start with the decision
The questions that turn a long list into a short list.
Which markets meet the basic needs of the project?
Start with the factors that matter and narrow the field before deeper research begins.
How do the finalists compare on the same measures?
Put competing locations next to each other so differences are easier to see.
Where does each market lead or trail?
Use percentile rankings and direct comparisons to understand strengths and gaps.
What does the workforce look like?
Compare labor availability, cost, hiring and turnover, and the future talent pipeline.
What is different about the cost and community environment?
Compare business cost factors, housing, quality of life, risk, infrastructure, and community conditions.
What incentive activity should be part of the conversation?
Research what states offer and what they have actually awarded.
Why the old way is hard
Location comparison is simple in theory. The research usually is not.
The data behind a location decision sits across public agency websites, spreadsheets, reports, incentive portals, and old market profiles. Even when the numbers are available, teams still have to make the geographies match, track the source, build the comparison, and turn it into something another person can understand.
Too many sources
The information needed for one comparison can live across many different systems.
Different geographies
One measure may be published by state, another by county, and another by city.
Manual comparisons
Every new project can mean rebuilding the same spreadsheet from scratch.
Hard to defend later
If a client, board member, or prospect asks where a number came from, the source needs to be clear.
How Incenti helps
Move from market search to market comparison in one place.
Explore the field
Search and review states, metros, counties, cities, and Economic Development District regions.
Compare the finalists
Select the markets that matter and compare them on a common basis.
Go deeper where needed
Move into workforce, industries, community conditions, risk, infrastructure, and incentives.
Report or export the result
Create a branded report or export selected data to CSV or Excel.
A simple workflow
Start broad. Narrow the field. Explain the result.
- 1Explore
- 2Filter
- 3Compare
- 4Ask
- 5Report
Use the same research from the first screen through the final comparison instead of rebuilding the work at every step.
How teams use it
Built for the communities competing and the teams comparing them.
Economic Development Organizations
Know how your market compares with the places that show up in the same projects. Use the comparison to prepare for prospect questions, support RFIs, and explain where your community is strong or where the conversation needs more context.
- Compare against real competitor markets
- Prepare for prospect and RFI questions
- Support presentations with sourced numbers
- Understand weaknesses before a prospect raises them
Site Selectors & Corporate Location Teams
Screen a larger field, compare finalists, and keep the factors behind the decision in one place before outreach begins.
- Screen long lists faster
- Compare finalists on the same measures
- Review workforce, cost, risk, and community conditions
- Bring incentive research into the same decision process
Ask Insights
“Which of these four markets is strongest on workforce cost, housing, and risk?”
Ask a question in plain English and get an answer grounded in Insights data, with sources shown.
Location Comparison FAQs
What geographic levels can I compare?
Can I compare more than two locations?
Does every measure exist at every geographic level?
Can I export a location comparison?
Does Location Comparison include incentives?
Compare the markets that matter to your next decision.
Take a live walkthrough using the places you actually care about.