From "Best Places for Business and Careers," to "America's Biggest Boomtowns," Ogden regularly finds itself on lists of the best places to live, work, and play.
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Ogden was ranked 16th in Forbes’ recent report on “The Best Places for Business and Careers.” Forbes used 14 metrics – including jobs, economic growth, and living costs – to compare the 200 largest metros. Data on these metros, which included cities with populations ranging from over 14 million to roughly 268,000, was collected from Moody’s Analytics, Sperling’s Best Places, the U.S. Census, and others. Check out Ogden’s ranking, the full list, the primary article, and a more in-depth discussion on methodology.
Ogden has been recognized not just for its business growth and talented workforce but also for its access to an incredible variety of outdoor recreation! In 2018, Ogden was recognized in Singletracks’ list of “10 Best US Mountain Bike Towns with the Lowest Cost of Living.” Singletracks first defined a “mountain bike town” as a town with at least 100 miles of bike-legal singletrack*, at least one bike shop, and a relatively town-sized population. Then, using information from Sperling’s Best Places, each town meeting the aforementioned requirements was compared using a cost of living (COL) index. Finally, some editorial liberties were applied using a judgment on which towns not only had a low COL but were “truly rad mountain bike towns.” The article and start of the list is available here, and Ogden’s specific placement can be found here.
*Singletrack is defined as a biking trail the width of a single bike, as opposed to a double-track or fire road, which can accommodate wider vehicles.
In a recent report by Magnify Money (Lending Tree), Ogden was named the 2nd “Best Place to Raise a Family with a Balanced Lifestyle.” The majority of cities on this list were found in the eastern-half of the U.S., but Utah cities claimed the top two spots! Using data from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey, Magnify Money compared the top 100 metro areas (by population) with 16 metrics including unemployment, median housing costs (as a percentage of median household income), and family poverty rate. The full article, list, and map of cities is available here.
An additional, but separate, report from Magnify Money ranked Ogden 12th in a list of “America’s Biggest Boomtowns.” Again comparing the 100 biggest U.S. metros, Magnify Money looked at changes in each metro from 2011-16 (data from 2016 being the most-recently available). These changes encompass local business and industry growth, increases in population and housing, and the available workforce compared to employment opportunities. This second Magnify Money article, list, and map of cities is available here.
Ogden was recently recognized in a 2019 report from Livability on the “Top 100 Best Places to Live.” Livability spent six years collecting and analyzing data on American cities to determine which ranked the best using metrics like housing, infrastructure, education, and health care. Then, to better rank the cities, Livability surveyed 1,000 people across the country asking, “What matters most to you when you’re deciding where to live?” The answer, overwhelmingly, was affordability. Read the report intro from Livability’s Editor-in-Chief and find the start of the list here; Ogden’s information is available here.
In other accolade news, a recent article from the Salt Lake Tribune discussed a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked third in the nation for job growth over the year-long measured period (Aug. 2018 to Aug. 2019). According to current BLS data, employment (non-farm) rose by over 12,000 jobs or 4.6 percent. Additionally, both Utah’s and Ogden’s unemployment rate (2.8 percent) was lower than the national average of 3.8 percent. Read the full Salt Lake Tribune article here, and check out the full BLS report here.
Other Ogden accolades:
Top 50 “Best Metro Areas for STEM Professionals”
Top 30 “Best Small Cities for Starting a Business”
Utah ranked #1 in Job Growth Nationwide, Ogden ranked in Top 5 for Cities