Rural western counties with a large percentage of federal public land experienced more economic growth than those with very little over the last 40 years. That’s according to a new report released by the research group Headwaters Economics.
The study reviewed economic indicators like population, employment, personal income and per capita income.
Employment, population and personal income saw the most pronounced differences. Per capita income, however, was about equal.
Megan Lawson is an economist at Headwaters Economics. She says much of this growth has been stimulated by people who work in the high wage service industry.
"Like architects, engineers and those kinds of professional services," she listed, "folks who are connected to stimulating growth in jobs with people who are connected to the broader western economy."
Lawson adds these trends are an average fromroughly 275 counties. Those that didn’t follow the trend typically had commodity-driven economies like mining or oil and gas production.
Source: Headwaters Economics
