Muskegon best city in Michigan to do business?

[allbusiness]

This news release just arrived from the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce. Nice for them, and no offense to Muskegon, but a better place to do business than GR or Holland?

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News release:

Muskegon tops Inc. Magazine list for Overall Best Cities.

RankCity State 2005

253 Muskegon-Norton Shores

263 Ann Arbor

344 Niles-Benton Harbor

350 Battle Creek

351 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn

352 Monroe

354 Kalamazoo-Portage

356 Jackson

368 Grand Rapids-Wyoming

373 Lansing-East Lansing

379 Warren-Farmington Hills-Troy

380 Saginaw-Saginaw Township North

384 Bay City

387 Holland-Grand Haven

390 Flint

Inc. Magazine names Muskegon as top

[dbrok]

It doesn't look like Michigan did very well across the board. Even if Muskegon is before GR in this list, isn't it disturbing there are still 252 regions ahead of Muskegon?

[GRDadof3]

These Inc. and Fortune Ratings are great bathroom material, and not for "reading".

[snoogit]

These Inc. and Fortune Ratings are great bathroom material, and not for "reading".

They tend to overevaluate many areas, and underevaluate those areas that don't gel with the editors.

[GRDadof3]

Any rating that "rockets" a city to the top 10 one year and then let's them "freefall" to the bottom 260's the next year is not worth the paper it's written on. "Oops, forgot to divide by 10 and not by 100 on that criteria"

[Phizzy]

These rankings seem completely bogus. What are they basing these rankings on?

If you look at the areas that are growing (in population), it doesn't jive with the Inc. Magazine rankings. How can Muskegon-Norton Shores, Niles-Benton Harbor, and Battle Creek be above Grand Rapids-Wyoming and Holland-Grand Haven? Holland-Grand Haven is almost dead last, even behind Saginaw-Saginaw Township North and Bay City, despite easily being the fastest growing metro over the last 15+ years. Niles-Benton Harbor being ranked well above Grand Rapids-Wyoming?

Based on the fact that Grand Rapids-Wyoming and Holland-Grand Haven are the fastest growing metro areas, it would appear that businesses are more vibrant in those areas than most Michigan metros, despite what Inc. Magazine says. I mean, you're not going to have strong population growth without a strong economy.

[snoogit]

These rankings seem completely bogus. What are they basing these rankings on?

If you look at the areas that are growing (in population), it doesn't jive with the Inc. Magazine rankings. How can Muskegon-Norton Shores, Niles-Benton Harbor, and Battle Creek be above Grand Rapids-Wyoming and Holland-Grand Haven? Holland-Grand Haven is almost dead last, even behind Saginaw-Saginaw Township North and Bay City, despite easily being the fastest growing metro over the last 15+ years. Niles-Benton Harbor being ranked well above Grand Rapids-Wyoming?

Based on the fact that Grand Rapids-Wyoming and Holland-Grand Haven are the fastest growing metro areas, it would appear that businesses are more vibrant in those areas than most Michigan metros, despite what Inc. Magazine says. I mean, you're not going to have strong population growth without a strong economy.

Im beginning to think Inc is basing their charts more on business vitality, then on how eeasy it is to start a business here.

I'd like to find some job loss statistics for the metros, because I think Muskegon lost the fewest percentage of jobs then the other metros, but I could be wrong.

With companies like Johnson Controls, and mostly auto jobs in Holland it wouldnt be a shock if the numbers fell into place that way.

[6th Gen local]

If a story like this can improve the economy in Muskegon, I am all for it. Grand Rapids and other so-called large cities in the State seem to be doing fine. Muskegon has a lot of potential with the miles of lakefront on Muskegon Lake.