MIDWEST
Blue Ribbon: Indianapolis
Middle America's best-kept secret
Scorecard (1988 to 1990)
Population growth: 1.6%
New jobs: 12,800
New companies: 239
High-growth companies: 181
The old jokes told of "Naptown" and "India-no-place." Just don't laugh too hard. For while Rustbelt neighbors have scrambled to stave off hard times, Indianapolis has sailed into the '90s with a well-diversified economy. Traditional smokestack employers have been supplemented by buttoned-down newcomers such as discount broker Charles Schwab, which recently sited a branch there. Certainly the local marketplace has been good to Technical Resource Group, an executive-search firm that's grown to $2 million in just five years. "It's because of the industries we trade in -- engineering, health services, insurance," says president Roger Brummett. "We've really been insulated from the effects of the recession."
Runner-Up: Minneapolis/St. Paul
Factor out an overheated construction industry and you'll still find the Twin Cities spawning small-company growth. One happy company owner: McRae Anderson, head of a $1-million interior landscape design and maintenance business in St. Paul. "Our sales were up last year," says Anderson. "They will be this year, too."
SOUTHWEST
Blue Ribbon: Dallas/Fort Worth
On the way back
Scorecard (1988 to 1990)
Population growth: 4.2%
New jobs: 66,400
New companies: 883
High-growth companies: 686
Five years ago, says University of Texas professor Donald Hicks, the Dallas/ Fort Worth "metroplex" was in "free fall." But rents and land prices in the area got so low that -- surprise! -- businesses began to move in. Last year Dallas ranked first nationally in the number of new or expanded corporate facilities. And the hard years of the recent past have left companies of all sizes in fighting trim. "We had a good year," says Aggie Jordan-DeLaurenti, who runs a $14.5-million technical-training company. "But I've learned to be real careful about expenses." One engine for future development: the area's fast-growing telecommunications industry, number two in the nation, with the 10 biggest companies alone employing more than 50,000 people. Among the up-and-comers is SRX Inc., which recently signed a contract with Motorola to market a newly developed emergency 911 hardware-and-software system. The company's anticipated 1991 sales: about $25 million.
Runner-Up: Salt Lake City
Like Dallas, Salt Lake City went into a slump a few years ago -- and now, says William A. Maasberg, CEO of software developer Libra Corp., "we're going to lead the way out. We've got a lot of good, solid new industry here." Much of it is close to Maasberg's professional heart: the area has 450 computer and software-related companies, many started in the last several years.
WEST COAST
Blue Ribbon: Seattle
Everybody's favorite city
Scorecard (1988 to 1990)
Population growth: 5.0%
New jobs: 22,600
New companies: 414
High-growth companies: 368
Seattle is Miss Popularity among cities. Places Rated Almanac ranks it number one. Company CEOs polled by real estate specialists Cushman & Wakefield say it's the best place to locate a business. The city's only problem? Too many people. "It's becoming a victim of its own appeal," reports The New York Times Magazine. Problems like that we all should have. "Growth may be slowing, but I don't think we're going to see anything that could be labeled a recession here," says Douglas H. Pedersen, an economist at Security Pacific Bank Washington.
Seattle doesn't rank high for new-company formation; more than some cities, it's dependent on one big employer, Boeing. But entrepreneurs who do put down roots there find the soil fertile. Annie Searle, a Midwest native who moved to Seattle 14 years ago, is now CEO of $1.5-million Delphi Computers & Peripherals. "Frankly, our company's on a growth trajectory that's compounding, not slowing down," says Searle. Let company owners in other regions worry about cautious bankers and credit crunches. "I don't have any problems at all getting money."
Runner-Up: Riverside, Calif.
The Inland Empire -- 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles -- is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, meaning there are plenty of people to staff (and buy from) new companies. Compared with much of Southern California, it's cheap. "We had a lot of employees who couldn't afford more than an apartment," says Darrell Ratliff of Natives Sportswear Inc., a clothing manufacturer that recently moved there from Orange County. "When we relocated here, they could afford to buy their first home."
Behind the Numbers
Data on population, earnings, employment, and retail sales were provided by Woods & Poole Economics Inc., in Washington, D.C. Data on business starts and high-growth companies were compiled by Cognetics Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. The business-starts rate is the number of companies with 10 or more employees founded between January 1988 and July 1990, as a percentage of all businesses in the area.
High-growth companies are those whose employment growth, in both absolute and percentage terms, exceeds a certain threshold. The percentage figure indicates the number of high-growth companies as a proportion of all young companies in the region.
The data were assembled and edited by Special Projects Editor Sara Baer-Sinnott. Research assistance was provided by Alessandra Bianchi.
