St George Tops List of Inc Magazine Boomtowns

An Inc Magazine list of top boomtowns includes several Utah cities, with St George topping the overall ranking. The list was based largely on job growth. The Utah cities listed are also attractive because they offer positive lifestyles and have a large diversity of nearby recreational opportunities.

The excerpts below are from a Deseret Morning News article describing the ranking:

"In the magazine's May issue, St. George took the No. 1 spot on the overall list of 393 cities. The magazine also listed its choices for the Top 20 large, midsize and small boomtown cities, based on employment growth rates over the past six years. St. George tops the list of small cities — those with populations of less than 150,000."

"Michael Shires, a professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, compiled the rankings for the magazine. Other Utah cities that ranked within the top 100 on the overall list include Provo/Orem, Logan, Ogden/Clearfield and Salt Lake City."

Here’s a quote from the Inc Magazine article:

"The top performers should be familiar to any observer of recent economic trends--or, for that matter, any reader of Inc.'s previous lists. This year's top large, medium, and small cities--Las Vegas; Fort Myers, Florida; and overall leader St. George, Utah, respectively--all were No. 1 or 2 in their categories last year. Other top spots--Phoenix; Sarasota; Reno; Salt Lake City; Bend, Oregon; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho--have been sizzling for some time now."

Here's the full list of cities