Tulsa World: Forbes lauds Tulsa's vitality

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Forbes lauds Tulsa's vitality
Tulsa and OKC are among its top 15 "fastest-recovering cities."

By LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer
Published: 11/26/2009 2:31 AM
Last Modified: 11/26/2009 4:13 AM

Tulsa is ranked No. 12 and Oklahoma City No. 13 on Forbes magazine's list of "America's Fastest-Recovering Cities."

This accolade follows many others for the Tulsa area, which has popped up on other Forbes lists and assorted rankings compiled by other sources throughout the year.

To create this particular list, Forbes ranked the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in five categories: unemployment rate, gross metropolitan product, foreclosures, home prices and sales rates.

The magazine used data from different sources to create its rankings in the various categories. September unemployment rankings, for example, were compiled using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Forbes then averaged the scores for each measure to come up with its overall rankings.

"I think it's really important," said Bob Ball, economic research manager for the Tulsa Metro Chamber. "It's a good source, and we have been consistently on the good side of their lists for the last several months."

Although the Tulsa area hit an economic slump, it probably didn't take quite as big a hit as many other areas, Ball said.

"If you look at the numbers, we've been faring better than much of the country all through the recession," he said. "It just means that we are in recovery, No. 1; we're not still declining. That just bodes well for Oklahoma and the Midwestern part of the world, where economic life has been much more conservative in terms of home prices and home loans, and incomes have been firm."

No region has escaped the recession, but diversified industry and relatively stable housing have given residents a measure of economic security in some areas, including Omaha, Neb., some Texas metropolitan areas, a handful of Northeastern manufacturing bases and select southern cities, according to Forbes.

The Tulsa area is much more diversified than it was in 2003, when the area had a heavy concentration of jobs in air transportation and telecommunications, both of which took a big hit because of the worldwide situation, Ball said.

Since then, people have come to realize that the oil and gas industry remains important for the area, the economist said. Health care is growing and is an export industry that brings in money from outlying states and rural areas, he added.

Among individual categories in the Forbes' ranking, the Tulsa area was No. 13 for its September unemployment rate of 7 percent. Oklahoma City ranked No. 4 with its 5.9 percent rate.

Tulsa ranked No. 41 for the change in gross metropolitan product between the first and second quarters of 2009, while Oklahoma City ranked No. 6.

Earlier this year, Forbes named the Tulsa area No. 2 in the midsize category for being among the "Best Cities for Job Growth" and 47th out of 200 large metro areas for "Best Places for Business and Careers."

Tulsa also was ranked No. 5 on a new list of "America's Most Livable Cities."

Fastest-recovering metro areas in the U.S.

1. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.- Iowa

2. San Antonio, Texas

3. Austin-Round Rock, Texas

4. Pittsburgh, Pa.

5. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.

6. Dallas-Forth Worth-Arlington, Texas

7. Rochester, N.Y.

8. Houston-Sugar Land- Baytown, Texas

9. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

10. Baton Rouge, La.

12. Tulsa

13. Oklahoma City

Source: Forbes

Laurie Winslow 581-8466
laurie.winslow@tulsaworld.com By LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Forbes: Tulsa among fastest-recovering cities," which was published on 11/25/2009.

	Report Comment Jules09A, Sapulpa (11/25/2009 12:44:25 PM) Good for Tulsa! Now let's just elect a few pro-market politicians so we can start seeing a recovery!
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/25/2009 12:51:15 PM) Absolutely great news........
	Report Comment Moses, Jenks (11/25/2009 12:55:50 PM) Wonderful news! Does this news mean all of the guest workers in Texas will be hitch-hiking back to Oklahoma?
	Report Comment Popeye, T-Town (11/25/2009 1:00:06 PM) Tulsa has always been a great place to live... Sure the crime's a little over-the-top right now, but I have faith we'll get it under control eventually. People, love your kids. Even if they don't live with you, or you rarely see them, call them and tell them you love 'em. You'll both be the better for it.
	Report Comment Captain BlackBeaver, Bat-Poop Crazy Island (11/25/2009 1:06:49 PM) Great news!
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:07:25 PM) Moses, what it means is those Oklahomans who are illegally crossing the border into Mexico in search for work,......... can now return home.
	Report Comment 2ndjoyce, BA (11/25/2009 1:07:40 PM) Good suggestion, Popeye. But don't stop at a phone call. Show your children how much you love them. Take care of them. Be there for them. Sacrifice for them. Guide them. Protect them. Teach them. Praise them. Encourage them..
	Report Comment CrippledShark, San Antonio (11/25/2009 1:10:32 PM) Moses, 4 out of the top 10 cities are in Texas. I suspect that the migration of us Okies to Texas will continue for quite a while.
	Report Comment CrippledShark, San Antonio (11/25/2009 1:16:44 PM) Check out which cities are in the top 10 (yea, San Antonio). I miss Tulsa a bunch but not enough to move back to the poor education system, crime, taxes and weather. 1 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metro Area 2 San Antonio, TX Metro Area 3 Austin-Round Rock, TX Metro Area 4 Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area 5 Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area 6 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro 7 Rochester, NY Metro Area 8 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX Metro 9 Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area 10 Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area 11 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR 12 Tulsa, OK Metro Area 13 Oklahoma City, OK Metro Area Just sayin.......
	Report Comment AnimalFarm, (11/25/2009 1:23:00 PM) Cool, we made both the "fastest" and the "fattest" lists!! Before you start ragging on me, I'm just joking.
	Report Comment forkandknife, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:29:11 PM) This is fantastic news!
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:30:47 PM) CrippledHark, who are you voting for for Governor.......? .........looks like two good choices to me. I only wish we could get one of them, up in Ok......
	Report Comment emotional_sting, tulsa - (11/25/2009 1:33:06 PM) jobless recovery
	Report Comment 2curious, Tulsa, OK 74104 (11/25/2009 1:34:36 PM) Don't suppose anyone will give our out-going mayor any credit for positioning the city for recovery by diversifying our tax structures and investing in the infrastructure through targeted taxation... Nah. The haters will rule as always here. Thanks, Mayor Taylor!
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:40:40 PM) 2curious, in fairness, we never fell very far into the abiss.......wouldn't you honestly say?
	Report Comment Daven, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:40:57 PM) Good news. Lets keep it going. Push your state rep to tap into the rainy day fund to get us over this small hump so we do not suffer and we return to growing times.
	Report Comment r0rschach, (11/25/2009 1:50:51 PM) the number of TX cities in the rankings is a testament to that state's low tax policies. when is OK going to figure it out?
	Report Comment edelweiss, Tulsa (11/25/2009 1:55:58 PM) Great for Tulsa and Tulsans! No city is perfect. But we have a lot to be proud of here. Hooray for Tulsa! We're on the right track again. Finally. Give credit where credit is due. Thanks Mayor Taylor.
	Report Comment douglassm, tulsa (11/25/2009 1:59:35 PM) Interesting silence from the usual crowd of nay-sayers and constant complainers.
	Report Comment gds6776, (11/25/2009 2:01:02 PM) 7 of the top 13 are in Texarklahoma. Do ya think we are on to something?
	Report Comment GilmoreDon, Tulsa (11/25/2009 2:01:52 PM) Now if I could just get a job commerate with my training and education. Nine (9) weeks and just one real interview. Twenty (20) rejection letters and hundreds of resume submissions.
	Report Comment Hanuman, Midwich (11/25/2009 2:03:18 PM) From reading these boards the last couple of years, I thought Kathy Taylor had completely destroyed Tulsa's economy. Guess that wasn't true after all....
	Report Comment r0rschach, (11/25/2009 2:08:09 PM) it is easy to be at the top when you never went anywhere and everyone else plummmeted so badly. When the economy sucks, mediocre is king.
	Report Comment beau3985, Tulsa (11/25/2009 2:20:53 PM) No surprise.
	Report Comment shaw411, Scottsdale, AZ (11/25/2009 2:21:34 PM) up from the ashes we have risen.......

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