I don’t know how many people have seen this yet, but Bend has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s top 10 boomtowns. It’s their annual "best of" entrepreneurial cities. Bend is actually highlighted twice: as one of the top 20 small cities for doing business, and one of the top 10 overall (the "hottest cities for entrepreneurs").

A bit about how they select these things:

As always, our rankings… put the focus on job growth, which we believe is the best measure of economic vitality. Strong job growth suggests that an economy is expanding—which means plenty of opportunity. What’s more, the Small Business Administration estimates that as many as three-quarters of new jobs are created by small companies; as a result, regions showing strong job creation are likely to be hotbeds of entrepreneurial activity. To compile the rankings, Inc. examined job-growth data, supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on 393 metropolitan statistical areas. We analyzed current-year employment growth, as well as average annual job growth over the past three years, and compared job growth in the first and second halves of the period comprising the past 10 years. We also analyzed job growth by industry sector.

Um, okay. According to Inc., our hottest industries are "Business Services" and "Financial Services."

I wonder what the current Bend Bubble blog will make of this.