Population: 4,029,000
2016 job growth: 3.0 percent
New jobs in 2016: 53,360
Unemployment rate by year-end 2016: 5.6 percent
Largest company in state: Nike
Bloomberg calls Oregon "the picture of economic health" based on factors of "employment, home prices, personal income, tax revenues, mortgage delinquency, and the publicly traded equity of its companies." Oregon is also helped by a spurt of population growth in recent years. In 2015, Oregon's population grew 1.5 percent, above the national average of 0.8 percent. Oregon is also a popular place for athletic wear and tech companies to operate, as an alternative to pricier West Coast cities like San Francisco and Seattle. Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, and Columbia all have design headquarters in Portland, along with software analytics company New Relic.
