There are 179 metro areas that compose the small cities category and the Longview Metropolitan Area ranked 30th best performing.

The ranking is provided by the Milken Institute. They examine U.S. metropolitan areas and analyze which ones are the most successful at creating and sustaining jobs demonstrating the best overall economic performance. They measure where jobs are being created and maintained; where wages and salaries are increasing; and where economies and businesses are growing and thriving. They measure growth over the past five years (2001 – 2006) and the latest year’s performance ( March 2006 to March 2007). Employment growth is weighted most heavily in the index because of its critical importance in determining a community’s vitality. There are a total of 200 metros in the overall ranking with the others being large metro areas.

Longview moved up in the ranking over 2005 moving from 58th to 30th. In job growth over the past five years, Longview ranked 54; over the past year, the ranking was 67th. Five year wage/salary growth was 35th and one-year growth was 12th.

“Longview not only has had substantial job growth but the quality of the jobs has increased meaning higher wage and salaries,” said John Stroud, executive director, Longview Economic Development Corporation. “Ranking 12th of 179 metro areas in wage/salary growth reflects significant economic performance in Longview. Also, retail goes where people have money to spend and developers are seeing opportunities in Longview. People throughout the region are seeing good values in Longview and are shopping here more often.”

“It is always nice to see the fruits of your labor come to fruition,” said Stroud. “Longview has been making very good choices in recent years and we have a very positive, business, consumer attitude. People in Longview and the region want to see good things happen and are working together to move ahead.”

“The increased demand for natural gas and for our manufactured goods is the basis of our economy and all industry segments are doing very well,” according to Stroud. “We expect this demand to continue for at least the next year and, even, beyond, due to the lead times needed in many industries.”