LOGAN – Logan is among the best-performing cities, according to the “Charting Economic Resilience and Opportunity” report issued by the Milken Institute.
“Among small cities,” said Logan Mayor Holly Daines, “Logan was just ranked as # 1 as the top performing economy in the country.
“We’re ranked on … one-year job growth, five-year job growth and one- and five-year wage growth. We’re also ranked for diversity in high-tech industries, because the kind of jobs we’re adding are high-paying jobs.”
Jumping one-place since last year, Logan is judged as a metro-area that includes all of Cache and Franklin counties.
“The Logan metro is home to a host of high-tech medical manufacturing industries,” according the Milken Institute report, “That includes pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
“Logan’s biggest industrial sectors, however, lie in education services; manufacturing; health care; professional, scientific and technical services; and retail trade.”
The Milken Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank. Its website boasts that it leverages the expertise and insight gained through research and convening of top experts, innovators and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints to construct programs and policy initiatives.
“Cities continue to drive economic growth across the nation,” the institute says. “They are primary locations where businesses create new jobs and workers earn higher wages, keeping the United States competitive in the global economy.
“This year’s index continues a trend noted in last year’s edition – a shift in high-tech jobs away from the largest coastal cities toward comparatively affordable inland cities with thriving local economies.”
Major employers include Utah State University, Conservice, Logan Regional Hospital, Gossner Foods and Icon.
Most recently, however, Electric Power System settled to expand in Logan, attracted by access to its engineering talent pool and proximity to Logan’s research universities.
The Logan metro area scored high in all categories except Housing Affordability.
Like other high-ranking Utah metros in the 2022 index, Logan has comparatively low housing when compared to cities with similar economic and demographic profiles.
In that regard, Logan rated 178th on the index.