Study: Missoula First in the Nation in Hispanic Income Growth

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - National Hispanic Heritage Month starts on Sunday, September 15 and runs through Tuesday, October 15, and a new Wallet Hub study has found that Missoula, Montana is rated highly in several metrics for Hispanic business success, including first in the nation in Hispanic income growth.

I spoke with Wallet Hub analyst Chip Lupo this week about the intriguing numbers for a community nestled in the mountain west.

Missoula Ranks Number One in Hispanic Income Growth

“Intriguing is a good word,” began Lupo. “That’s a good way to describe the results as they came out. First of all, what we’ve done is that we’ve compared 182 cities, which also includes the 150 most populated cities across two key dimensions; Hispanic business-friendliness and Hispanic purchasing power.”

Lupo naturally expected to find Hispanic business success in places such as Florida and the southwest, but in Missoula, Montana?

The Study Said Missoula Ranked Number Two in Hispanic Population Growth

“After we crunched all of the numbers, what we found is that the top 10 cities were in Florida, which makes sense given the state’s proximity to Central America, and number 10 was Laredo, Texas, however, nestled right there at number 8 was Missoula, Montana.”

Lupo said the study showed that Missoula was ranked first in the country for Hispanic income growth.

“Where Missoula did well was in the Hispanic purchasing power dimension,” he said. “They are number one for income growth for Hispanics; number two for Hispanic population growth; number seven for Hispanic job security, and a reasonably low Hispanic unemployment rate, which are all stellar numbers.”

Organizations Like the Missoula Economic Partnership Help Bring New Businesses

I spoke to Lupo about organizations like the Missoula Economic Partnership and the Missoula Chamber of Commerce that are always reaching out to promote Missoula as a business-friendly community.

“You mentioned business, and that’s another factor that’s working in Missoula’s favor, as far as the study goes,” he said. “Missoula ranked 15^th in Hispanic business friendliness and that stems from the third highest small business friendliness score and number six in significant start-ups per capita. That seems to tie together the business aspect and the Hispanic population aspect, as well.”

According to Data USA, 3.64 percent of Missoula’s population, or a little over 4,000 people, are Hispanic.

Check out the Wallet Hub story profiling Missoula’s Hispanic business success here.