Weld, Boulder counties ranked among nation’s best for economic, job growth

Weld and Boulder counties account for two of the top 10 metropolitan statistical areas in the country for economic and job growth, according to new rankings released by site-selection and facility-planning magazine Area Development.

The Greeley MSA, or Weld County, came in fourth, three spots behind the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield MSA at the top of the list. The Boulder MSA, or Boulder County, came in ninth, and Larimer County, the Fort Collins-Loveland MSA, came in 20th on the list.

The magazine ranked 373 MSAs based on 21 different economic and workforce metrics. The four key categories in the criteria included economic strength, year-over-year growth, prime work force, and “recession-busting” attributes that show how well cities have weathered past economic downturns.

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The Houston area came in second on the list behind Denver, followed by Grand Rapids, Mich. San Francisco was behind Greeley in fifth, followed by San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Columbus, Ind.; Boulder; and Austin, Texas, to round out the top 10.

“These Leading Locations are MSAs that have invested in themselves to create skilled workforces and pro-business environments,” Area Development editor Geraldine Gambale said in a prepared statement. “Many of these MSAs have strong educational assets and they’ve attracted the talented individuals that forward-looking companies need. Also, their diverse economies allowed them to emerge from the recession more quickly than other locales.”

While the northern Front Range dominated the top of the rankings, other areas of Colorado landed further down the list. Colorado Springs came in 129th. Pueblo came in 215th. And Grand Junction was 227th.