The Grand Rapids metro has once again finished third in the nation for developing and expanding business.

Area Development Magazine has placed the area third on its annual list of places where new business and current businesses have the best condtions for growing and expanding.

Its growth in health care and biotech and its diverse manufacturing base were cited by the publication has some of the reasons why Grand Rapids' economy looks so rosy. Last year, the GR area also placed third on the list, climbing up from 127th place as recently as 2013.

“This ranking turned a lot of heads when we jumped 39 spots last year, and now we’re getting a lot of looks by maintaining a top three position,” Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of local economic development agency The Right Place told the Grand Rapids Business Journal. “These third-party, data-driven studies really validate the growth we are experiencing throughout the region and increases the overall perception of West Michigan as a global destination for business success.”

Area Development Magazine ranked 394 metro areas using data from several key sources including governent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and private data from Moody's Analytics. That data was used to rank cities across four categories: prime workforce, economic strength, year-over-year growth and five-year growth.

In the individual rankings, Grand Rapids ranked No. 24 in prime workforce, No. 2 in economic strength, No. 4 in five-year growth and No. 26 in year-over-year growth.

Top Ten Metro Area For Economic Growth

1. San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco (California)

2. Napa (California)

3. Grand Rapids-Wyoming (Michigan)

4. Columbus (Indiana)

5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (California)

6. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro (Oregon and Washington)

7. Bend-Redmond (Oregon)

8. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood (Colorado)

9. Reno (Nevada)

10. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine (California)

 

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