Forbes magazine ran their annual top 200 metro regions to do business in and Tucson didn’t do so well. The big numbers that jump out to me are the job creation and crime ratings.  Interesting how these two numbers, arguably our regions two biggest pressing problems are skewing down the entire rating. 

We know the job creation number is directly related to the fact that Tucson relies too heavily on the growth and construction industry. During boom and bust cycles our collective fortunes rise and fall.  We’ve talked about diversifying our economic base for ages and yet nothing really ends up happening.  GTEC, predecessor to TREO, focused on call centers which may not be too far off base given our available labor pool.

The stat that leaped off the page for me was the crime statistics. No matter how you slice it if the people aren’t safe they  don’t buy houses, shop in business and  come to our community. We are in the process of hiring a new police chief so I hope our elected officials don’t mess it up.  Public Safety funding is another important aspect of a safe community. We are well under national levels for police per population and it’s starting to strain the community.  Our government must start focusing on the basics before we tackle all the council pet projects.

Best Places For Business And Careers

#133 Tucson AZ

03.25.09, 6:00 PM ET

	Rank
Colleges 1	113
Cost of Doing Business 2	105
Cost of Living 3	128
Crime Rate 4	190
Culture and Leisure 5	102
Educational Attainment 6	72
Income Growth*	145
Job Growth*	72
Job Growth Projected 7	195
Net Migration*	23
Subprime Mortgages 8	84
Education
College Attainment 6	26.8%
High School Attainment	83.7%
Income
Median Household Income	$44,656
Income Growth*	2.2%
Employment
Job Growth*	1.6%
Job Growth Projected 7	-1.4%
Unemployment (2008)	4.9%
Housing
Subprime Mortgages 8	17.1%
Median Home Price	$204,400

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Metro Area Population: 988,000

Billionaires: None

Best Big Companies: None

Best Small Companies: Providence Service

See Also:

Arizona Metros