City is one of six Kentucky communities to make the publication’s Top 100 list
It’s official: Somerset is a Top 40 Micropolitan Community in America.
The ranking — designated by Site Selection Magazine and based on data from its Conway Projects Database — includes cities with a population between 10,000 and 50,000 people that cover at least one county. Communities are ranked in the database according to the number of new corporate facility projects in 2023 with significant impact, including headquarters, manufacturing plants, R&D operations and logistics sites among others. The database does not track retail and government projects, schools, hospitals or infrastructure investments.
New facilities and expansions included in the analyses must meet at least one of three criteria: capital investment of at least $1 million, at least 20 new jobs, or at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.
Somerset qualified for the Top 40 micropolitan list with three such projects. It is one of only six Kentucky cities to make the Top 100, including Frankfort, Danville, Murray, Madisonville, and Richmond-Berea. By comparison, Somerset ranked 144th on this list in 2022.
Kentucky also ranked fourth in the nation for the number of Top 100 micropolitan communities it contains.
Somerset-Pulaski Economic Development Authority (SPEDA) President and CEO Chris Girdler celebrated the announcement and recognized it as yet another indication that SPEDA’s holistic approach to economic development is working.
“We are incredibly excited about the news that Somerset is a Top 40 micropolitan community,” Girdler said. “The leap we made in the rankings from 2022 to 2023 is just phenomenal and quite frankly, symbolic of the leaps and bounds we are growing economically. We are laser-focused on making Somerset-Pulaski County a wonderful place to live, which is making it a place where people want to work. We listen to our business and industry leaders, provide training and development, eliminate barriers to success, enhance speed-to-market opportunities, and invest in arts, entertainment and culture. We’ve reimagined economic development in Somerset and Pulaski County and the best is yet to come.”
Somerset Mayor Alan Keck was pleased to learn about the Top 40 micro designation.
“This is incredible news,” Keck said. “It is wonderful to see the fruits of our labor recognized in this way. We have changed the narrative in Somerset to focus on economic development through the lens of quality of life and place, and our success with this model cannot be refuted. The designation as a Top 40 micropolitan community in America from such an esteemed publication, one based on data from the results we’ve accomplished here, is most certainly a feather in our cap and one we will wear proudly. I am deeply grateful to the City of Somerset and SPEDA teams for their hard work, collaboration and dedication to making this possible, and to our business community for trusting us to make this a place where they will thrive.”
Site Selection Magazine also released its Top 100 Metropolitan list and its 2023 Governor’s Cup Awards in the March issue. For more information about these designations or to view full charts and data, visit siteselection.com.
