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Home My WebLink About03-12 Bozeman ranked among country's top micropolitan areas Bozeman ranked among country's top micropolitan areas Chronicle Staff I Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 12:15 am Bozeman's economy ranks among the country's strongest for micropolitan areas, an independent economics research firm announced Monday. Florida-based POLICOM Corp. declared the Gallatin County seat's 2011 economy was the seventh strongest in the country after analyzing statistics from 576 micropolitan areas. POLICOM, which specializes in analyzing local and state economies, has performed the study for metropolitan areas since 1996 and for micropolitan areas since 2002, according to the study. A micropolitan area is defined as an "urbanized area" with a population between 10,000 and 50,000 people. The research firm separated 23 statistics into three groups for the study. The groupings are intended to reflect the overall growth in the economy's size and the people's standard of living, the economy's behavior and negative growth. Statistics used included all workers' earnings, retail jobs and welfare assistance. Durango, Colo., Helena and Gilette, Wyo., made up the top three small economies in the nation, according to the study. The others ranked ahead of Bozeman include Concord, N.H., Lexington Park, Md., and Hilton Head Island-Beaufort, S.C.