Here is some Fort Collins area data that recently caught my eye.
Milken Institute Top 25 Best-Performing Large Cities 2016. The Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (i.e. Larimer County) broke the top 10, jumping 6 spots from last year up to 8. As you can see on the list below, we compared favorably with some of the country’s economic Goliaths. When you click through to the full report, assets are cited as ‘rising disposable incomes nationwide are boosting tourism and leisure spending in the region’ and ‘tight labor market is fueling in-migration and higher wages.’ The liability they cited was ‘high-tech industry isn’t keeping pace with national trends.’
Top 10 Best-Performing Large Cities
Metropolitan statistical area (MSA) /metropolitan division (MD) | 2016 rank | 2015 rank | Change |
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Provo-Orem, UT (MSA) | 2 | 3 | +1 |
Austin-Round Rock, TX (MSA) | 2 | 4 | +2 |
San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA (MD) | 4 | 2 | -2 |
Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX (MD) | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Raleigh, NC (MSA) | 6 | 6 | 0 |
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN (MSA) | 7 | 18 | +11 |
Fort Collins, CO (MSA) | 8 | 14 | +6 |
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (MSA) | 9 | 28 | +19 |
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA (MD) | 10 | 7 | -3 |
“2016 Best-Performing Cities: Where America’s Jobs Are Created and Sustained,” by Ross DeVol, Joe Lee, and Minoli Ratnatunga is available for download at http://best-cities.org. Data for all metros is available on the interactive Best-Performing Cities website. Join the Twitter conversation at #bpcfor2016.
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Chmura Economics & Analytics Under-employment Rankings. The area has another top 10 ranking but in a less positive light: we rank 7th in under-employment, up from 9th 2 years ago. Others in the top 10 are:
- Boulder
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk CT
- Washington DC, Arlington-Alexandria
- Barnstable Town, MA
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
- Lawrence, KS
- Denver-Aurora-Lakewood