Among the best: Bozeman's economy ranks near top

By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer

Bozeman's economy ranks among the strongest in the country for towns its size, according to a new study.

Policom Corp., based in Florida, pegged Bozeman ninth out of 573 "micropolitan" areas -- towns with between 10,000 and 50,000 population -- in the country for its economic strength. The corporation used a formula relying on 23 factors and looked at data from the past 20 years to come up with the ranking.

That puts Bozeman in the top 2 percent of similar-size towns nationwide.

"It's a pleasant surprise," Gallatin Development Corp. Executive Director Mark Evans said. "It makes my job easier, because when we talk to companies that want to relocate here, we can point to that study."

The study measures whether an area's economy is growing or declining and what's driving those changes, Policom Director Bill Fruth said Thursday in a telephone interview .

Fruth has spent decades developing methods of evaluating an area's economy and makes his living advising communities on their strengths and weaknesses.

In places where the economy is growing, the study looked at the quality of that growth, measured by how much the standard of living for residents is improving, he said.

For example, while explosive job growth could be seen as a positive, Fruth said he prefers to see steady job gains.

"You have these boom-and-bust communities and that's not good," he said. "Steady job growth shows that there's a consistent flow of people coming in, and government can plan accordingly."

And Bozeman has experienced strong, steady growth in both population and its economy, especially over the past decade.

Other evaluating tools include the number of people who have to go on public assistance to make ends meet and the increase in wages over time.

While some towns create a lot of jobs, if they're low-wage jobs, those towns don't rank as well. The main thing any economy should have is diversity.

"Typically a strong economy is a diversified economy," Fruth said. "If one (sector) fails, the others are there to hold up or prop up the economy."

And that's exactly what has made Bozeman's economy so solid, Bozeman Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Smith said.

The area's economy is firing on all cylinders: tourism, Montana State University, hi tech companies and agriculture among them.

"We have probably the most perfectly balanced economy that you can have right now," he said. "A national park, a beautiful area and a major research university spells a pretty good recipe for success."

The study and methodology behind it can be viewed at http://www.policom.com.

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