DEMOGRAPHICS :: BUSINESS

General | Living | Government/Taxes | Business

Business Growth/Retail Sales
Orem's economic vitality has received increasing national recognition over te past decade. The following is a list of studies and surveys in which the Orem area was ranked among the best in recent years:
  • America's Most Livable Community - Money Magazine
  • No. 1 community in its population group for high-growth companies - National Commission on Entrepreneurship
  • Most growth potential in key markets over the next decade - Sales & Marketing Management
  • Fourth-fastest growing economy in the nation - U.S. Conference of Mayors
  • One of the top 20 best places to live and work - Employment Review Magazine, May 2000
  • Greatest percentage of households with computers in the nation (66.1%) - Commerce Department Survey
  • No. 1 "Entrepreneurial Hot Spot" in the nation for the next 20 years - Cognetics
  • 12th best place in America to raise a family - Reader's Digest
The state of Utah received straight A's in a national economic report card. The report was published by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. Utah scored an 'A' in all three categories: economic performance, business vitality, and development capacity.

Orem has developed into a virtual retail giant in the last 20 years. Topping a sales total of $1.3 billion to set an all-time record in 2000, Orem strengthened its position as the retail leader of Utah County, while also staking its claim to the No. 2 spot statewide, behind only Salt Lake City. The arrivals of Costco, Red Lobster, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in 2000 further bolstered numbers for the year. The following graph demonstrates Orem's retail sales position within the county:

Development
There were 3,958 licensed businesses in Orem as of the end of 2000. Of those, 2,284 were commercial and 1,674 were home occupations. As a testament to Orem's entrepreneurial spirit, an astounding 814 new businesses received licenses in 2000 alone. The city contains 14,157 single-family homes, 7,345 multiple units, and 2,201 condominium units for a total of 23,703 dwelling units. There were also 1,311 building permits issued in 2000 for an estimated $88.1 million of improvements made by the private sector ($45.1 million residential, $43 million commercial/industrial). Processing building permit requests takes a relatively quick 12.31 days on average.

Labor Force
The strength of Orem's economy is regenerated annually with the graduation of thousands from a pool of over 50,000 college students in the metropolitan area. These students combine with a relatively young populace to create one of the nation's most educated, and plentiful, workforces. With a constant flow of new ideas from a vast number of young talented entrepreneurs, the area continues to be viewed as one of the great places in America to live, work, and do business.

There are over 347,000 people in Utah County, more than 84,000 of hich live in Orem. A majority of the large labor force is employed in professional, technical, or service-related fields. These people benefit from a strong Utah pioneer heritage that emphasizes putting in a full day's work for an honest day's wage, and from an enterprising spirit that produced over 800 new Orem businesses in 2000.

Orem workers are well educated, with Utah ranking first in the nation in terms of percentage of high school graduates among its adult population. Because an unusually large number of people in Orem took a break from college to serve religious missions and to study in foreign countries, a significant percentage of the population speak second or third languages. Add to that Orem's unusually young population, and a future with an even stronger labor force appears inevitably on its way.

University Mall
The strength of Orem's retail economy continues to rest in the wings of the recently renovated University Mall. The mall, the oldest of its kind in the county, is undergoing a four-year, $80 million facelift that includes the addition of a 120,000 square-foot Nordstrom's on the southeast corner. A new food court and the recent addition of Eddie Bauer, Banana Republic, and American Eagle have also bolstered University Mall's claim to regional retail dominance. Mall managers estimate that, with the arrival of Nordstrom's in March 2002, the number of stores will increase to more than 200, which would easily qualify as the most of any shopping mall in Utah.