Wake County (NC) rethinks incentives as officials push for more jobs and flexibility
Proposed changes would lower wage requirements, allow larger deals, and shift incentives toward job creation as leaders respond to evolving growth patterns across the county.
Raleigh, NC, Mar. 23, 2026 — Wake County leaders are weighing a significant shift in how they recruit businesses and structure economic incentives, with proposed changes that would expand who qualifies for grants, reshape how companies are paid, and open the door to larger, more customized deals.
The proposals, presented Monday to the Board of Commissioners’ Growth, Sustainability and Economic Strength Committee, stop short of final action. But taken together, they point to a clear direction: more flexibility in how the county competes for jobs and investment, and a willingness to rethink long-standing rules that have governed incentives for years.
At the center of the discussion is a recalibration of what the county aims to achieve with its incentives. Under the current system, grants are largely tied to property investment, meaning companies that build or invest heavily in facilities generate the largest payouts. Staff said that the structure no longer aligns with how many modern projects, particularly office and headquarters operations, actually work.
In response, officials are proposing a shift toward job-based incentives in some cases, especially for headquarters projects that bring significant employment but relatively modest physical investment. The goal is to better align incentives with what the county considers the primary public benefit: jobs.
That emphasis on jobs surfaced repeatedly throughout the meeting, including in a separate discussion of hyperscale data centers. While those projects can involve hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, county staff noted they typically generate relatively few permanent jobs, raising questions about how they fit within the county’s broader economic strategy.
The proposed changes also would lower the wage threshold required for companies to qualify for incentives. Today, most projects must pay an average of 110% of the county’s average wage. Under the new framework, that would drop to 100%.
County staff said rising wages across Wake County have made the current threshold increasingly difficult to meet, particularly for entry-level or early-career roles that still offer pathways to higher-paying positions. Lowering the requirement, they argued, would give commissioners more flexibility to consider projects that support economic mobility, even if starting wages fall below the current benchmark.
At the same time, the proposal raises a more fundamental question that commissioners are expected to weigh in future discussions: how low is too low when public incentives are involved.
In another major change, the county is proposing to create a new “transformational project” tier for large-scale investments of at least $500 million. While Wake County has already supported projects of that magnitude, including major pharmaceutical manufacturing investments from Amgen, Fujifilm, and Genentech, the new tier would formally recognize those deals and allow commissioners to negotiate incentives on a more customized basis.
All three of those projects are tied to the Holly Springs and New Hill area, where large-scale life sciences manufacturing has reshaped both the local economy and the physical landscape in recent years. County leaders pointed to those examples as evidence that such projects require a different approach, one that balances their economic impact with the realities of land use, infrastructure demand, and long-term growth.
Additional changes under consideration include reducing the number of standard incentive tiers from five to three, simplifying the policy, and lowering the minimum investment required to participate in state-backed incentive programs. That latter change is intended to ensure Wake County can continue to unlock larger state grants, particularly for projects that create jobs but require limited capital investment.
Notably, commissioners are not being asked to make a decision yet. Monday’s discussion was framed as a working session, with staff seeking feedback before bringing forward a finalized version of the policy for potential approval at a later date.
Even so, the direction is clear. Wake County is looking to modernize its incentive strategy at a time when competition for jobs and the nature of those jobs are evolving quickly. Whether that means broader access to incentives, larger deals, or a redefinition of what qualifies as a “good” project is likely to be at the center of upcoming board discussions.
For residents in Holly Springs and across southern Wake County, the implications are tangible. The same forces shaping incentive policy, large-scale industrial investment, job creation, and infrastructure demands are already visible on the ground. The decisions ahead will help determine not just which companies come next, but how growth continues to take shape in the communities experiencing it most directly.