PROVO — Provo is not just a college town but one of the nation's best business towns, according to a recent business magazine survey.
The city ranked sixth in Forbes' recent Best Places for Business and Careers survey, which weighed job and income growth, cost of doing business and work-force qualification of the 150 largest metropolitan areas.
Meanwhile, Utah scored well overall and in several breakout categories, and Salt Lake finished high in entrepreneurship and infrastructure, in a new "Gold Guide" ranking of cities and states.
Utah also finished fifth among states for "economic freedom," according to a third study.
Provo's ranking in the Forbes list was due largely to its high concentration of college-degree holders.
"Provo-Orem has some great things to offer, and I think one of the best things from a business standpoint is the academics," said Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce chief Steve Densley.
"You've probably got somewhere close to 60,000 college-age kids running around here who are becoming highly educated at some excellent schools. I think as a business, looking to locate here, to have a highly educated, young, dynamic work force is a major plus."
Provo Mayor Lewis K. Billings said he was not surprised at the ranking.
"We have a superior work force and many bright, entrepreneurial people in our community," he said. "A real key is Brigham Young University. They are a marvelous part of our community."
Utah Valley Economic Development Agency Director Russ Fotheringham noted that human resources as rich as Provo's are difficult to find.
"Human resources are the resources that are most in demand by the businesses in the United States," Fotheringham said. "If you're looking for a place where you can find the resource that's most scarce of all, then it's right here. You have not only a large number of students but some of the brightest students in the nation going to school here."
All of the survey's top five — Madison, Wis.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta — had close ties with area universities.
Provo finished above Salt Lake, which came in 65th, despite the contribution from the University of Utah.
Fotheringham pointed out that Utah Valley has more two- and four-year degree graduates than the Salt Lake Valley.
"Salt Lake is recognized as probably the highest concentration of students among the major metropolitan areas in the United States, but Utah Valley is 4 percent higher than even Salt Lake Valley," he said.
Fotheringham said Utah Valley needs to promote awareness of its human resources to bring businesses in, but also work on growing locally.
"For the future, we need to look at developing from within instead of from without," he said. "Let's set up some business accelerators, let's try to gather together some funds for companies who want to prove their concepts and start up businesses that create the large numbers of high-paying jobs."
He said encouraging local entrepreneurs was essential in light of the low number of incentives offered to businesses by the county and state.
"We are notoriously skinny on incentives as far as the state is concerned," he said. "We know of potential businesses we've lost because we didn't offer the incentives that other places did."
Fotheringham said the number of technology companies and the high concentration of people with second language capabilities in Utah Valley are also attractive qualities for businesses, as many are becoming more global in scope.
In the Gold Guide ratings, which are part of the just-published "America's Best Cities & States: The Annual Gold Guide to Leading Rankings," all states were included in the national rankings. About 50 cities were listed in each city category.
Categories included:
Overall — Utah sixth, Salt Lake 26th in the city rankings.
Business climate — Utah 22nd.
Economic dynamism — Utah 17th, Salt Lake 21st.
Entrepreneurship and small business — Utah seventh, Salt Lake eighth.
Environment — Utah 36th, Salt Lake 23rd.
Government — Utah 24th, Salt Lake 49th.
Health and welfare — Utah fifth, Provo 33rd and Salt Lake 39th.
Infrastructure — Utah 14th, Salt Lake fifth.
Public safety — Utah 16th, Orem 28th.
Quality of life — Utah eighth.
Technology — Utah fifth.
Education — Utah 10th.
Details are available at www.nprcouncil.com/ggmedia.
The Gold Guide is published by NPRC Press, a division of the National Policy Research Council, a Washington-based think tank offering nonpartisan research, analysis and information to state and local policymakers.
The rankings were developed by NPRC researchers.
The third study was by the Pacific Research Institute, which ranked Utah fifth among U.S. states according to how friendly or unfriendly their governments are toward free enterprise.
Details of the study, titled "The U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2004 Report," will be available later this summer. It is being produced by PRI in association with Forbes magazine.
The study factored in more than 140 variables, from taxes to environmental regulations to tort laws to property rights. The rankings are based on five types of government intervention in markets: fiscal, regulatory, judicial, size of government and welfare.
The study was compiled by two Clemson University economists and directed by the director of business and economic studies at PRI.
Rankings are available at www.pacificresearch.org
Alabama has the most economic freedom and New York the least, according to the study. Researchers noted that states with the most economic freedom tend to be in the Great Plains and Rockies, resulting in the region developing prosperous centers of high-end services and information technology. The Northeast and Upper Midwest are most restrictive, leaving businesses and customers "suffering," PRI said.
Contributing: Brice Wallace
E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com