WESTBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Area Development, the premier publication covering site selection and facility planning, recently ranked 373 MSAs across 21 economic and work force indicators, which were pulled from seven (7) data sets originating with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census American Community Survey, and Moody’s Analytics. Based on these rankings, the publication has announced its Leading Locations for 2015. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield (CO) ranks first overall, followed in the remaining top-10 spots by Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (TX), Grand Rapids-Wyoming (MI), Greeley (CO), San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City (CA), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (CA), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett (WA), Columbus (IN), Boulder (CO), Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (TX).
Based on overall results, MSAs were ranked across nine (9) regions, as well as according to size in three city categories, big, mid-size, and small. They were also ranked within the “Economic Strength,” “Year-Over-Year Growth,” “Prime Workforce,” and “Recession-Busting” categories, each based on selected indicators. The overall leader in the “Economic Strength” category was Denver-Aurora-Broomfield (CO), and Greeley (CO) led in “Year-Over-Year Growth.” Columbus (IN) ranked first for “Prime Workforce.” The top “Recession-Busting” MSA was Odessa (TX).
Regional leaders were Boston-Cambridge-Quincy (MA), Albany-Schenectady-Troy (NY), Louisville-Jefferson County (KY-IN), Fargo (ND-MN), Denver-Aurora-Broomfield (CO) — which also led among big cities, Grand Rapids-Wyoming (MI), Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (FL), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (TX), and San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City (CA). Greeley (CO) led among mid-size cities, and Columbus (IN) ranked first among small cities.
According to Geraldine Gambale, editor of Area Development, “These Leading Locations are MSAs that have invested in themselves to create skilled workforces and pro-business environments. Many of these MSAs have strong educational assets and they’ve attracted the talented individuals that forward-looking companies need. Also, their diverse economies allowed them to emerge from the recession more quickly than other locales.”
The full report on the Leading Locations will be published in the Q2 2015 issue of Area Development and posted online at www.areadevelopment.com/leading-locations.
Area Development is published quarterly and has 40,000+ executive subscribers. It also maintains several highly visited websites, which can be reached through www.areadevelopment.com.
