THE ROANOKE REGION OF VIRGINIA

Roanoke (39^th) is one of four Virginia metro areas in the top 50 among Forbes.com’s 200 Best Places for Business and Careers, along with Lynchburg (28^th), Virginia Beach (45^th) and Richmond (50^th).

Roanoke jumped 40 places from the 2009 list. Forbes uses cost of doing business, projected job growth and educational attainment to determine the areas with the most economic opportunity. This is the 12^th annual list.

“Roanoke continues to make progress economically, particularly in a climate where so many metros are losing ground,” said Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. “The Forbes.com ranking is just one more example of Roanoke attracting the attention it deserves.”

Roanoke ranked 61^st for cost of doing business, based on cost of labor, energy, taxes and office space; 90^th for projected job growth, and 140^th for educational attainment.

Des Moines, IA placed first. Merced, CA is 200^th.