By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

While not the top in the state, Shelby County ranked high for the amount of investments flowing into the local economy, according to a study recently compiled by the Smartasset.com website.

The site ranked each county in Alabama based on the amount of growth in number of businesses, gross domestic product growth, building permit growth and federal funds received per capita.

“There are several ways individuals, governments and businesses can invest money in a county or region. Our study aims to capture the places across the country that are receiving the most incoming investments in business, real estate, government and the local economy as a whole,” read the website.

For business growth, the website looked at the change in the number of businesses established in each county over a three-year period, and calculated GDP growth adjusting for inflation.

Smartasset.com also looked at the investment and development in each county’s real estate market based on the number of new building permits per 1,000 homes.

“We scored every county in our study on these four factors. We then combined those scores to create a final ranking of cities. With that ranking, we created an index where the county with the most incoming investments was assigned a value of 100 and the county with the least investment activity received a zero,” read the study.

Baldwin County in south Alabama topped the list with a 7.5 percent business growth, $334 million GDP growth, 21.2 new building permits per 1,000 homes, $378 in federal funding per capita and an overall incoming investment index of 58.11.

Lee County came in No. 2, with a 9 percent business growth, $174 million GDP growth, 19.7 new building permits per 1,000 homes, $266 in federal funding per capita and an overall incoming investment index of 58.

Madison County placed third on the list, with a 2.8 percent business growth, $532 million GDP growth, 17.3 new building permits per 1,000 homes, $19,119 in federal funding per capita and an overall incoming investment index of 52.51.

Shelby County placed fourth, with a 5.9 percent business growth, $328 million GDP growth, 11.7 new building permits per 1,000 homes, $742 in federal funding per capita and an overall incoming investment index of 47.03.

Lauderdale County rounded out the top five, with a 3.3 percent business growth, $130 million GDP growth, 13.9 new building permits per 1,000 homes, $87 in federal funding per capita and an overall incoming investment index of 46.54.

To view the entire list, visit Smartadvisormatch.com/data/places-with-the-most-incoming-investments/alabama.