Business is coming to Spartanburg County – so much so that it not only is positioned as one of the state’s most attractive places for manufacturing and industry, but it also now ranks first among all 46 state counties in annual capital investment.
In 2025 alone, for example, local chamber of commerce OneSpartanburg, Inc., landed 20 economic development projects on behalf of the City and County, totaling $3.5 billion in capital investment and the creation of 1,024 new job opportunities for residents.
The $3.5 billion not only surpassed every other county in the state by a wide margin, data from the South Carolina Department of Commerce indicates that it accounted for more than one-third of the entire state’s investment in 2025 – outpacing the combined county efforts of Greenville, Charleston, York, Union, and Cherokee – which placed second at $2.47 billion.
And compared to recent years, Spartanburg’s achievement represents more than four times the amount of capital investment brought in during 2024, and nearly double that from 2021.
“Spartanburg County continues to set the bar in South Carolina, and in many ways, across the Southeast, when it comes to economic investment and job creation,” said OneSpartanburg, Inc., president and CEO Allen Smith.
Chief economic development officer Katherine O’Neill added, “Our continued work to bring high-paying, knowledge-based, and corporate job opportunities to Spartanburg County paid off in 2025, as a host of innovative companies chose to locate in or expand across our community.”
New companies include:
• NorthMark Strategies – $2.8 billion – 27 new jobs utilizing a state-of-the-art high-performance computing center for sophisticated data processing and analysis. This investment, one of the largest ever made in Spartanburg County, will involve on-site power creation ensuring minimal impact on the power grid.
• Woodward, Inc. – nearly $200 million – 275 new jobs specializing in design, manufacture, and service of energy conversion and control solutions for aerospace applications.
• AIRSYS Cooling Technologies – $40 million – 215 new jobs in a new global headquarters for worldwide cooling solutions. The company’s Woodruff campus will house one of the world’s largest 3D printing factories.
• Xoted Biotechnology Labs – $4.2 million – 34 jobs in a cutting-edge research and development center, focusing on sustainable biotechnology and scientific innovation. “This investment represents a win for continued efforts to diversify the investments recruited to Spartanburg County,” Smith said.
Companies looking to expand include Tindall Corporation; Advanced Ceramic Coatings; pipe fabricator FabLogix and ZF Chassis Systems, both in Duncan; and Auria Solutions for both BMW and Honda automotive products.
“We will continue our work to pursue economic investments that create economic opportunity and mobility,” Smith said.
And this opportunity currently has no end in sight. Based on OneSpartanburg’s projections, Spartanburg County’s population is expected to reach 414,000 by the year 2030 – an increase of about 34,000 over 2025.
Which means that within the next decade, this kind of growth and business attraction could have the entire area living up to what Collier’s International calls the “Inland Empire of the East Coast."
“While the investment figure of $3.5 billion is impressive, we are more encouraged by the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs for the people who live in Spartanburg County,” O’Neill said. “Our mission is to build a vibrant Spartanburg through business, economic, tourism, and talent development.”
