Logan metro area recognized as 4th best in the country to work in manufacturing

LOGAN – The Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cache Valley, was recently recognized as a top area in the country to work in manufacturing. Logan ranked 4th behind Ames, Iowa; Decatur, Alabama; and, Jefferson City, Missouri according to a recent study conducted by SmartAsset. The organization examined nearly 400 metro areas across topics such as manufacturing employment, income and cost of living.

“The Logan, Utah metro area has the 12th-highest percent of workers in manufacturing (26.64%),” study author Anja Solum reports. “Manufacturing employees in the Logan area have experienced a roughly 6% increase in average income from 2019 to 2020. Additionally, the area also has the second-lowest unemployment rate of the top 10 metro areas and fifth-lowest overall, at 1.9%.”

Manufacturing job growth in the area also increased over 10% from 2019-2020.

“Local manufacturing can provide high wage jobs, be essential for innovation, help reduce the national trade deficit and contribute to environmental sustainability, according to The Brookings Institute,” Solum added. “However, it’s no secret that U.S. manufacturing jobs have been shrinking over the past few decades (down more than 35% between 1995 and 2020). Given this trend, it’s important to highlight the areas of the country that have been and continue to be strongholds for manufacturing.”

Three other metropolitan areas near Logan were included in the report’s top 100. The Ogden-Clearfield area ranked 13th with 16.22% of its workforce in manufacturing and 4.15% increase in average income. However, the Ogden-Clearfield area only saw modest gains in job growth at 0.39%. Salt Lake City ranked 41st with 8.87% of its workforce in manufacturing, 2.79% in job growth but only 1.39% in income growth. Both the Ogden-Clearfield and Salt Lake City metropolitan areas had a 2.1% unemployment rate as of August 2022.

North of Logan in Idaho, Pocatello was ranked 87th with 9.53% of its workforce in manufacturing. The area saw a significant increase in job growth – 16.77% – but showed a decrease in income by 3.28%. The August 2022 unemployment rate in Pocatello was a low 2.9%.

Of the 378 metro areas which were compared, 165 saw a decline in the number of manufacturing workers between 2019 and 2020. This marks a significant change from last year’s study when only 113 metro areas saw a decline in manufacturing jobs between 2018 and 2019.

To find the best places to work in manufacturing, SmartAsset compared 378 metropolitan areas across seven different metrics: manufacturing as a percentage of the workforce; three-year job growth; one-year job growth; three-year income growth; one-year income growth; housing costs as a percentage of average income for manufacturing workers; and, August 2022 unemployment rate.

More information about the study can be found here.

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3 Comments

  • Growth freak November 9, 2022 at 2:44 pm Reply

    Great we need more growth and immediately. How about another meat processing plant, credit union, and a carwash. Then some more high density housing and several new traffic lights at Hwy 89 / Hwy 23, and hwy 23/hwy 30.

  • Eric Allred November 10, 2022 at 10:38 am Reply

    The manufacturing growth is good, especially as starvation wages are eliminated by high-tech, high-skill, high-paying jobs. These jobs are crucial for U.S. success in the international economy. The high schools and trades schools in the area are responding to this change in the economy by providing more Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses that prepare their students for these jobs.

  • Reavers November 12, 2022 at 9:23 pm Reply

    We still have a 26.8% poverty rate and the home owner occupancy of around 37%. Even if some of the manufacturing jobs are a little higher in pay, they still arent enough to support a family, buy a home have insurance and the rest of the living fixins.

    So where are the wages that put us up so high on this list?

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