For the past 10 years, North Dakota and South Dakota have been among the five lowest states with regards to annual salaries. Personal income growth in Wichita, Kan., ranked 23rd in the nation, according to a recent study by American City Business Journals. Both Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., are promoting themselves as desirable sites for businesses because of their centralized geographic location, more or less midway between America's East and West coasts. Kansas City, Mo., especially, is very aggressive in trying to attract distribution and warehousing companies to its area, says Joan Heron, a site selection consultant at Lockwood Greene's Chicago office. Kansas, also, is aggressive and even has a full-time economic recruiter in Chicago, she says.
Companies are very comfortable here.
Kansas and Missouri have, from time to time, joined in their efforts to recruit companies to the area. Recently, counties on both sides of the river voted to turn the old Union Station in Kansas City, Mo., into a science museum. Over in Omaha, high technology education got a new home at the University of Nebraska's Peter Kiewit Institute, designed specifically to teach information science, technology and engineering. The intent of the project is to produce high-tech graduates who will remain in the state as more jobs are attracted by the facility's synergy. The campus is sure to be a magnet for related businesses, says Larson.