Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Red states are hot spots for growth

2/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Salt Lake City skyline and Wasatch Mountain range.
What region of the country is going to grow in influence and power?

Hint: It’s not in the states that dominated much of the attention in last year’s election.

Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University and a City Journal contributing editor, has authored a report published by the Manhattan Institute. It identifies four growth corridors in the United States. They are the Great Plains

states, the “third coast” along the Gulf region, the Southeast manufacturing belt and the Intermountain West.

In other words, red states with business-friendly laws and policies. These areas don’t share a lot in common except low costs, strong business climates and population growth — mainly the kind that emphasizes families and children.

In fact, while the rest of the nation grew 7 percent since the turn of the century, the Intermountain West grew 20 percent, the “third coast” 14 percent, great plains more than 14 percent and the Southeast 13 percent. (Read the report by clicking here.)

In a related op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Kotkin noted that, “Raleigh, Austin, Denver and Salt Lake City have all become high-tech hubs.”

Of the Intermountain region, his report says, “Perhaps none of our corridors has better prospects than the Intermountain West region. It has the advantages of a well-educated and growing population, as well as enormous natural resources. …

“Over the past ten years, the Intermountain West has had the highest growth in jobs of any area—some 14.7 percent, more than three times the national average. … It has consistently showed the greatest growth of any region in terms of high-tech jobs.”

Kotkin sees the region’s growth prospects as remaining strong for several decades.

His conclusions are hardly startling for anyone who has watched demographic shifts and economic indicators. Utah and its metropolitan areas have been cited by a number of publications as good places to do business. What all of this means in terms of political changes and future influence is less clear.

As the report notes, “To be sure, New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Chicago will remain the country's leading metropolitan agglomerations for the foreseeable future. But an important urban story of the coming decades will be the emergence of interior metropolitan areas …”

That story will be interesting to watch as it unfolds.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.