SANDY SPRINGS, Georgia
Population: 101,908
Unemployment: 6.0 percent
Projects: Mercedes-Benz USA headquarters
Located about 15 miles north of Atlanta, Sandy Springs does an exceptional job of attracting large, Fortune 500-type businesses that want an ostensible Atlanta address but also the ability to build big. UPS moved there in 1991, Newell Rubbermaid opened its corporate headquarters in 2008 and recently announced it would relocate to a new site in town. The city landed another big tenant when Mercedes-Benz USA announced it will build its headquarters on a 12-acre parcel of land.