Georgia is a top exporter of wood fuel in the world and offers the forest industry excellent logistics. Georgia also offers a centralized location for business operations in the fastest growing region in the U.S.
Whether traveling by truck, train, air, or sea, Georgia’s excellent transportation logistics allow deliveries to make it to market fast.
- Trucks traveling from Georgia reach more than 80% of the U.S. industrial market within two days
- Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation provide international rail services throughout Georgia on the largest railroad network in the Southeast
- 80% of the U.S. is within a two-hour flight of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
- Georgia offers state-of-the-art deep-water ports in Savannah and Brunswick operated by the Georgia Ports Authority. Georgia also offers inland barge operations in Bainbridge and Columbus
Georgia has a strong, vibrant business environment with an extensive network of support services.
- State tax rate is very competitive nationally
- State law mandates a balanced budget
- Georgia is a right-to-work state with the most culturally diverse environment in the Southeast
- Highly skilled workforce and world-class universities
- Georgia maintains a AAA bond rating from all three major municipal bond rating agencies
- 76 countries have a consular, trade, or chamber of commerce office in the state
- More than 2,500 internationally owned facilities representing 52 countries do business in Georgia
Business & Support Services
- Georgia’s Department of Economic Development attracts new business investment and supports the expansion of existing industry to new markets. Georgia also offers an array of tax credits and exemptions to new and expanding businesses.
- Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division handles all requests for permits that are required by state and federal environmental protection legislation.
- The Georgia Department of Community Affairs provides information on financial assistance services and programs. Local development authorities, cities, counties and private-sector groups can also offer innovative and creative solutions that can be substantial.
Georgia’s workforce is young, well-educated, and growing rapidly.
People
- Over 100,000 people move to the state each year, making Georgia the 8th fastest-growing state in the U.S. (2010 population of 9.7 million)
- Georgia’s population is expected to exceed 12 million people by 2030
- Georgia is getting younger: more than half of Georgians are between the ages of 20 and 54
Education
Georgia’s university system is the 4th largest in the country, including:
- 13 state universities
- four research universities
- seven state colleges
- two regional universities
- nine two-year universities
- an integrated network of 34 technical colleges with multiple campuses
Each year 50,000 graduates of technical, four-year and two-year colleges enter the Georgia labor force. GeorgiaHire.com is a free, online recruiting service that helps companies find the college-educated talent they need.
Training
Georgia QuickStart is a nationally recognized program that provides flexible, customized training through a network of technical colleges and universities. Since 1967, more than 5,600 companies and 706,000 Georgia workers have benefited from this no-cost program.
Additional Topics
Analyzing Georgia's Nation-Leading Timber Industry
Timber Product Output (TPO) reports are performed through a coordinated effort by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) and GFC’s Forest Utilization staff. To estimate industrial uses of roundwood, all primary wood-using industries in a state are surveyed bi-annually. Primary wood-using industries include pulp mills, sawmills, veneer mills, composite panel mills (osb), and other industrial products mills.
Bioenergy is a growth industry
Forest bioenergy is the use of renewable forestry biomass to produce energy products. Forest biomass is any plant or tree material produced by forest growth.
Sustaining the economic viability of forest land ownership
The owners of Georgia’s 24.5 million acres of forests invest in reforestation and careful forest management practices with an expectation of future benefits.
Helpful Resources
| Title | Description | Document Type |
|---|---|---|
| Timber Buyers Directory | This list is made up of buyers/harvesters who have submitted information to GFC and is not meant as an endorsement of any individual or company. For a full list of Georgia Master Timber Harvesters (GAMTH), visit the GAMTH database. To be added to the timber buyers directory, contact Angela Kimberly at akimberly@gfc.state.ga.us. | Page on GFC Website |
| Sustainability Report for Georgia’s Forests – January 2024 | Report details the condition of the state’s 24-million acres of forestland. It outlines the numerous economic, environmental, and social benefits of Georgia’s forests and details specific challenges to the resource that provided more than 141,000 jobs and generated nearly $42 billion in economic value to the state in 2022. | |
| Georgia Forest Products Exports (2019) | An overview of Georgia’s largest product exports for 2019. | |
| Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) | GDEcD is the state’s lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, aligning workforce education and training with in-demand jobs, locating new markets for Georgia products, and planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. | External Website |
| Georgia Carbon Sequestration Public Hearings – Statesboro 2007 | Creation of Georgia’s Carbon Sequestration Registry included a public review process of proposed draft protocol documents and presentations. This is related resource document. | |
| Georgia Carbon Sequestration Public Hearings – Athens 2007 | Creation of Georgia’s Carbon Sequestration Registry included a public review process of proposed draft protocol documents and presentations. This is related resource document. | |
| 2024 Georgia Certified Mills & Products | This is a list of companies that participated in the Timber Product Output (TPO) annual survey of the primary wood-using industries in Georgia and reported that their wood procurement system and/or listed mills and/or products are certified through SFI, FSC, PEFC or SBP1. | |
| 2022 Economic Factsheet of the Forest Industry in Georgia Factsheet | Economic activity is measured by output, employment, and compensation generated directly by Georgia’s forest industry. | |
| 2022 Economic Benefits of the Forestry Industry in Georgia | Georgia’s forest industry has many components, which interact with all other sectors of the economy in complex ways. The purposes of this analysis are to: (1) quantify the level of economic activity conducted by the components of the forest industry, (2) estimate economic activity supported in all Georgia sectors by the industry’s activities, (3) compare the level of activity in the forest industry with other industries, and (4) quantify the economic activity of forest industry sectors within each of the 12 regional commissions in Georgia. |