The Mountain West is home to some of the top performing metro economies in 2019, according to a recent report by Area Development magazine, a publication focused on corporate site selection.
Topping the magazine’s overall rankings is Reno, Nevada, which, as the report notes, boasts a total employment rate more than triple the national average.
Tom Harris, an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, says more investment in technology helped bring a new energy to the city and a region that was hit hard by the Great Recession.
“You have this high tech going on, but you also have this older age people going on, which really are an input to our health sector,” Harris said.
Area Development’s report noted that New Deantronics is set to open a $40 million, 200-job medical device R&D and manufacturing campus in the Reno-Sparks area this year, reflecting the area’s growing economic diversity.
The report looked at the largest 399 metro areas across the country. Mountain West metro areas ranking in the top 100 include, in order, Reno, Nev.; Ogden-Clearfield, Utah; Boulder, Colo.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Carson City, Nev.; Provo-Orem, Utah; Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Missoula, Mont.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O’Connor Center For the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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