Forbes Magazine ranks Las Cruces No. 14 on its “Best Small Places for Business and Careers” list.

The rankings look at cities from across the U.S. and are based on 12 areas relating to past and future projected job growth, business and living costs, income growth, education and projected economic growth. Quality of life areas such as crime rate, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration patterns are also factors in determining the rankings.

Las Cruces’ metro area, with a population of 210,000, previously made the list four times before from 2002-2005. Manhattan, Kan., is ranked No. 1 on the list.

Forbes also released a list of “The Best Places for Business” without regard to city size. The top city on that list Raleigh, N.C. El Paso checks in at No. 36 while Forbes ranks Albuquerque No. 36 on that list. Las Cruces was not in the Top 50 of that list.

Forbes reports that “For the most active areas of job creation (and lower costs of doing business) you have to go to the heartland, home to 80 percent of the top 25 regions on our list of Best Places for Business.

“In most of these hot hubs you’ll find a strong university or two, providing rich cultural life and the kind of technology transfer that sparks entrepreneurial activity – giving that educated population lots of reasons to stick around.”

We started 2009 with what I believe were a greater amount of “unknowns” than “knowns”;  fears following a stock market crash, government bailouts, mass foreclosures, growing unemployment rates, and discussions of a recession was the topic of many conversations.   These were the challenges over the past year that all communities, businesses, and economic development agencies had to deal with, not just MVEDA.  As a region, Dona Ana County was not immune to this crisis.  We began the year at 5.5% unemployment and ended the year hovering around 7%.  However, compared to a 7.8% unemployment rate at the State level and a 9.4% rate at the national level (as of November), Dona Ana County actually fared pretty well.  And although we experienced the loss of a large employer with the Frontier Airlines’ reservation center closing here in Las Cruces, we were also balanced by increases in hiring by other service centers including Sitel, CyraCom, and Convergys.  We also experienced some decline in production/manufacturing jobs and the loss of Multi-Plastics.  However, we also experienced an unprecedented level of interest by companies in the emerging alternative energy sector which has led to some key opportunities; earlier in the year eSolar and NRG Energy announced a 92 megawatt solar project for Santa Teresa and earlier today, Johnson Plate and Tower announced their plans to build a wind tower manufacturing facility, also in Santa Teresa.    Sapphire Energy has invested $8 million in its research and development facility at the Las Cruces West Mesa Industrial Park and will invest another $100 million in Southern New Mexico to produce biofuel from algae.  Along with other alternative energy groups who have identified the region for their projects, Dona Ana County could realize up to 200 new jobs and up to $300 million dollars in new capital investments in the years to come as a result of 2009 activity.

At MVEDA, we enter 2010 optimistically.  After dropping out of the top five rankings of the best performing small cities by Forbes and the Milken Institute between 2002 and 2006, the Las Cruces NM MSA has again made the list of the Milken Institute’s top ten “Best Performing Small Cities.”  As Spaceport America comes on-line and if some of the other projects in our pipeline materialize, it should lead to regaining a top five position in the near future.

But we also realize that we have not yet fully escaped the economic crisis of the past year.  We know that economists are now beginning to talk about a recovery.  We know the current holiday shopping season experienced a 3.5% increase over last year’s holiday season illustrating an increase in consumer confidence.  We know from reports that foreclosure numbers will decrease from the levels experienced in 2008 and 2009.   We also know we have a pipeline of projects and companies that we are working with who are considering the region for growth.  We know that there is a growing alternative energy industry with its eyes on New Mexico and that MVEDA has been aggressive in gathering the attention of this industry.  But we also know that we still have a lot more to do.   But at least we enter the New Year with a few more “knowns” than the “unknowns” of 2009.