Texas earned Site Selection magazine's No. 1 business-climate ranking for the fourth consecutive year, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on November 2. Texas ranked ahead of Georgia, North Carolina, California and Virginia in the 2026 ranking. Abbott said in his release that "Texas leads the nation in economic opportunity." The state also recorded 1,406 qualifying corporate facility projects in 2025, more than double Illinois' 680. Dallas-Fort Worth ranked third among large metro areas with 410 projects.
Dallas won a corporate commitment in September when Morgan Stanley announced a U.S. hub with a projected $684 million capital investment and more than 3,800 jobs, according to the governor's office. AT&T announced in January that it will move its global headquarters from downtown Dallas to Plano, with initial occupancy expected in the second half of 2028.
At a January event in Fort Worth, Abbott criticized Dallas' police staffing and homelessness response. He told The Dallas Express that AT&T is moving out of downtown because Dallas did not address those issues. In a May 11 message, AT&T CEO John Stankey cited concerns about the "ongoing and cyclical nature" of city governance challenges, according to emails obtained by The Dallas Express. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said AT&T preferred a large, horizontal campus with substantial acreage, and that city leaders worked to keep the company.