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Reno, Nev., ranked first in the nation, and Green Bay, Wis., ranked fourth, in the "Best Cities for Doing Business in America" list in the issue, which will be at newsstands next Tuesday, Inc. officials said. La Crosse and Green Bay were the only Wisconsin metro areas ranked in the top 20.
La Crosse was ranked 17th among small metro areas last year, when the magazine compiled its first list. There also were separate rankings last year for mid-sized metro areas and large metro areas.
This year's rankings lumped all metro areas together, regardless of size, said Ryan Clancy, a spokesman for the business magazine.
"It's saying you guys enjoyed explosive growth in business services," Clancy said this year's 15th-place ranking among all 274 metro areas. La Crosse also benefited from the state's improved business climate and from improvement in Wisconsin's manufacturing sector, he said Tuesday.
Using data supplied by the federal government, the magazine measured current-year employment growth, as well as trends in average growth over the past three years. It also compared employment expansion in the first half with the second half of the last decade.
Sustained job growth balanced among many industries was the leading indicator of an entrepreneurial hot spot, the magazine said.
Inc. said the major news in this year's list is the exodus of companies from high-cost urban centers to less expensive and more business-friendly suburbs and small cities. It said the lower costs offered by such regions allows entrepreneurs to compete with rivals overseas.
Bill Brockmiller, regional labor market analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, said he wasn't surprised by La Crosse's high ranking. "We've seen much stability over the last year," he said. "We've seen growth in some sectors, business services being one of them." Examples of business services are temporary help agencies and accounting, architectural, law, design and advertising firms, he said.
La Crosse also has ranked high in other studies, said James Hill, executive director of the La Crosse Area Development Corp. "It's really welcome and great news," he said of the Inc. ranking.
The high ranking will be useful in marketing the city to prospective businesses, Hill said.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
