Grand Rapids Makes Forbes List of Top 19 Opportune Cities
Forbes comprised a list of cities where it could be easier to make ones "mark" and Grand Rapids made the list!
Here's how they determined each city...
- Forbes wanted cities where the home prices where significantly lower than most metropolitan cities.
- Forbes also said that each city on the list had to have a population over 150,000 citizens.
- Forbes looked at unemployment rates to see if that had improved over recent years.
Of 19 cities, Grand Rapids was number 10!
Here's the stats:
Population: 192,294
Median home sales price (Q1 2014): $103,500
Unemployment: 7.8%
Unemployment change July 2013-June 2014: -26.4%
Population growth 2008-2012: 1.3%
Pop. Age 25-39 (2012): 23.8%
Change in Pop. 25-39, 2010-2012: 4.9%
Violent crime (annual, per 100,000 people): 771.2
FORBES' Business and Careers Rank: 39
The top 10 on the list:
- Columbus, Ohio
- Rochester, NY
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Toledo, Ohio
- Buffalo, NY
- Rockford, IL
- Lubbock, TX
- Philadelphia, PA
- Memphis, Tenn.
- GRAND RAPIDS!