Forbes - Top Business Sites

[Karried]

From the Oklahoman.. with a few tidbits inserted by me... whoo hooooooooooooooo!!

City ranks 13th on list of top business sites

By Steve Lackmeyer
The Oklahoman

The latest annual Forbes Magazine listing of the best places for business and careers starts with a nod to the famous British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who once advised "in a progressive country, change is constant."


The new listing gave Oklahoma City the highest ranking (13) since the list was started back in 1999. Tulsa was ranked 77. (ouch!)

The top spot went to Albuquerque, N.M., dethroning perennial winners including Atlanta and Austin, Texas.

In the ranking and story released on www. forbes.com, author Kurt Badenhausen attributed the fall of such cities to slowing income growth. Oklahoma City took the top spot, followed by Tulsa, in the same category.

"Newcomers that cracked the top tier include Houston, riding high on oil profits, and Phoenix, lifted by a housing and population boom," Badenhausen wrote. "Overall, half of the top ten places are new this year."

Badenhausen credited research firm Moody's Economy.com, which provided data for the rankings. The business cost index weighed labor, energy, tax and office space costs. Other factors included job growth, migration, crime, education and quality of life.
Mayor Mick Cornett said he was surprised by Albuquerque (??) winning the top spot, but expected to see other high-placed cities, including Houston and Indianapolis. Cornett attributed the improvement for Oklahoma City to pro-business legislation promoted by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
Roy Williams, chamber president, said the rankings provide the chamber "another tool" in recruiting new businesses to Oklahoma City.
"Whenever we're dealing with an out-of-town company or a company that is considering expanding, they look at the data, the economics, and third party information," Williams said. "They expect us to sell the community. But they rely heavily on third party information. And this is third party information that has credibility."

[scotplum]

This is very impressive. I'm amazed that OKC is #1 in Income growth according to Forbes. On top of that, Tulsa is #2! Here's a list to all of OKC's numbers:

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/1/2898.html

Pretty interesting. If you don't have a login to Forbes, go to www.bugmenot.com to get login/pass since it is a free site.

[Cid]

I just wish the boom in business would translate to improved roads, highways, and bridges. Is that too much to expect?

[okclee]

I just wish the boom in business would translate to improved roads, highways, and bridges. Is that too much to expect?

You wish you will receive. $736 million upcoming bond vote for roads and other projects

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...-projects.html

[metro]

You wish you will receive. $736 million upcoming bond vote for roads and other projects

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...-projects.html

I must say, I spent most of last week on the East Coast, primarily in Philadelphia, New Jersey and NYC. By far our roads are much better and cleaner. Say what you will about Oklahoma roads, but they're not that bad. Yes Texas and Florida have a much better road system, but they also have about 20 million more in population and millions more in tourism thus translating into insane tax revenue that we'll never see. Per capita, we have good roads. Note that I'm not saying they couldn't be improved, just saying they are not as bad as LOCALS make them out to be.

[Millie]

#1 in income growth, in spite of our "cowboy culture"? Impressive.

Seriously, though- that's some great press.

[AFCM]

Oklahoma ranks #19 in the "Best States for Business" category.

19 sounds good until you remember there are only 50 states. At least we're in the upper half and not the lower half.

[okclee]

Oklahoma ranks #19 in the "Best States for Business" category.

19 sounds good until you remember there are only 50 states. At least we're in the upper half and not the lower half.

It looks like we as in Okc, is having to pull the load, no thanks to Tulsa. Where would Okla rank if Tulsa was higher then 99 on the Forbes list? Come on Tulsa get it together and pick up the slack, we are getting tired of carrying you guys.

[jbrown84]

I'm really confused. Why are we talking about LAST YEAR'S list?

[redland]

I'm really confused. Why are we talking about LAST YEAR'S list?

I'm confused too. I took great pride in Oklahoma City's #13 ranking in the 2006 list. However the 2007 list has Raleigh in the #1 slot, Albuquerque slipping to 6th, and Oklahoma City dropping to 58th. This makes little sense to me, but I think that is what the 2007 list shows.
There is so much flux in this list from year to year that I don't think it's worth getting too worked up over---OKC is robust and getting better!

[jbrown84]

Yeah, I didn't realize this was old at first and couldn't figure out why the lists weren't matching up. Albuquerque wasn't in the right place, OKC wasn't in the right place, Naples, FL was #13, then I figured out this was an old thread that somebody revived for some odd reason.

[Karried]

I'm really confused. Why are we talking about LAST YEAR'S list?

That's what I was wondering too!

and Oklahoma City dropping to 58th.

Wonder if they saw the vote for #1 Cowboy Town?

I'm just kidding...