A growing technology sector helped the Lynchburg region continue its climb on the Milken Institute’s list of Best Performing Cities.
In the list released this week, the Lynchburg area ranked 35, compared to 60 last year and 71 in 2008.
The California-based Milken Institute ranks cities on job growth, salary growth, and the growth of high-tech industries within a region’s economy. Bryan David, executive director of the Region 2000 Economic Development Council, said the recognition validates the region’s efforts to grow jobs.
“This once again affirms that our region’s business leaders, educators and local governments are doing the right things to collectively strengthen our economy,” he said.
The Best Performing Cities report scores cities in the way they relate to the national average. Rising on the list can indicate improvement in the city, or deteriorating conditions in other places.
In categories such as job growth and salary growth, Lynchburg scored nearly equal to the national average. But the scores most responsible for pulling Lynchburg up the list relate to high-tech industry growth.
Lynchburg ranked third in the nation for its growth in high-tech output from 2004 to 2009, and 18th for high-tech growth from 2008 to 2009.
It also ranked above the national average for concentration of high-tech industries.
Jonathan Whitt, executive director of the Region 2000 Technology Council, said this reflects growth that regional leaders have observed.
“When you think of the growth of the technology industry in our region, at least for the last decade, it’s been transitioning in our region towards more high-tech, high-wage jobs,” he said. “Now we’re seeing these rankings come out and show that we really are a high-tech, technology manufacturing-based community.”
He said the growth has happened in large companies, such as Areva and Babcock & Wilcox, but in smaller firms, too.
“We have such a large number of small- to medium-sized firms that in the community’s viewpoint are kind of unseen, under the radar. All of those kinds of companies do exist and they’re making a huge impact on the local economy,” Whitt said.
Many of the small companies do work for the U.S. military and in the wireless communications fields, he said.
The Northern Virginia area, with Washington, D.C., ranked sixth on Milken’s list, higher than any other Virginia metropolitan areas. Most cities in the top 10 were in Texas, with the Fort Hood region taking first place in the nation.
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