Providence business climate ranks at No. 162, says Forbes mag

PROVIDENCE – The Providence metropolitan area ranked at No. 162 out of 200 U.S. cities on the Forbes’ “Best Places for Business and Careers.”
“The recession spared few U.S. cities, wiping out 9.4 million jobs between November 2007 and August 2009. Many will never return, and those that do you probably won’t find on the East or West Coast. For the most active areas of job creation – and lower costs of doing business – you have to go to the heartland, home to 80 percent of the top 25 regions on our list of Best Places for Business,” Forbes said.

Forbes said it favored areas with a “strong” university or two; the culture and technology transfer that the institutions provide give the educated population “lots of reasons to stick around,” it explained.

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The publication used 12 factors related to job growth, costs (business and living), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth; quality of life factors such as crime rates, cultural opportunities and net migration patterns; and the number of “highly ranked colleges” according to Forbes’ own college rankings.

The No. 1 city on the list was Raleigh, N.C., fueled by low business costs, a smart labor force and the second-highest rate of net migration in the U.S. over the past five years.

The worst place to do business was Merced, Calif., while Atlantic City, N.J., sat at No. 199 and Flint, Mich., at No. 198.

Forbes gave Providence an overall ranking of 162. Its cost of doing business rank was the same, at No. 162, job growth came in at No. 157, and education came in at No. 91.
The Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metropolitan area’s major industries are health care and financial services, it said, and gross metro product was $69.4 billion.
It also noted:

• 10.9 percent unemployment rate.
• -0.2 percent job growth in 2010.
• 3.3 percent cost of living above the national average.
• 28.2 percent college attainment; 10.5 percent graduate degrees.
• -3,820 net migration.
• $53,288 median household income; $224,600 median home price.
• 6.9 percent subprime mortgages.
• And quality of life factors such as an average commute of 24 minutes and a crime rate of 2,931 per 100,000 residents.

“Providence is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, which has shifted the city’s economy into service industries, though it still retains significant manufacturing activity,” Forbes said, while noting: “Much of Providence culture is synonymous with Rhode Island culture.”