Lexington KY - Top 5 In Larger Metros for Business - According to Forbes

I hope you’ll indulge me a little local Lexington Kentucky bragging… Our city was ranked top 5 in Forbes’ “Best Places for Business and Careers” for 2008. This doesn’t really surprise me. It’s also cool to revisit the heatmap generated by the Creative Class Group where the Cinci/Lou/Lex triangle glowed brightly (see below). The graphic shows how areas are feeding off of neighbors with creative class attributes (which explains Seattle’s lack of a glow.)

The top 5 on the Forbes list were

• Raleigh, N.C.
• Boise, ID
• Fort Collins, CO
• Des Moins, IA
• Lexington, KY

The Lexington rating was based on Forbes’ criteria applied to the 200 largest metro areas based on

• 5-year job growth
• 5-year income growth
• Cost of doing business
• Cost of living
• Crime rate
• Educational attainment
• Presence of 4-year colleges
• Cultural and recreational opportunities
• Net migration to Lexington.

The ranks for Lexington were

• Colleges #43
• Cost of Doing Business #40
• Cost Of Living #41
• Crime Rate #95
• Culture & Leisure #156
• Educational Attainment #37
• Income Growth #125
• Job Growth #110
• Net Migration #67
• Overall #5

As you can see, the biggest boosters for the area were low costs, high education level, and presence of good universities. As encouraging as the rank was, job growth was #110 out of 200, which is slightly troubling. t is my hope that we’ll see more inovation, cultural expansion, downtown development in both retail and residential, and control over sprawl into the horse farms.

I think one of the biggest challenges for Lexington will be the adoption of a creative-class attitude (despite our #9 rank in Richard Florida’s book on the subject,) workplace flexibility, outdoor recreation (even those not related to horses) and look forward in its marketing and tech infrastructure.

But reading this, today, makes me glad that I left the Silicon Valley for the Silicon Holler.

Cloud/Skyscraper photo by code poet (jim) used uncer CC License

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One Response to “Lexington KY - Top 5 In Larger Metros for Business - According to Forbes”

1. Aug
   16
   2008
   At 1:03 pm Rory The Barbecue Ribs Guy Says:

   I am so happy to hear that Lexington is going to be a solid business area. It really is encouraging to a business like mine that wants to become a larger company!

   Thanks so much for the informative and encouraging news!

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