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
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
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!
You have all sorts of interesting news about our city on here. This is the first time I have seen the creative heat map. I’m glad Lexington is adding to the nations creativity, art and culture.