North Idaho city is home to many businesses that relocated from expensive metropolitan areas:

The city of Post Falls, Idaho, one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. during the 2000s, has emerged as a haven of sorts for companies that seek a business-friendly environment.

Economic development efforts in recent years have been successful in attracting some of the largest private employers in this 25,000-person city, which is located on the Washington-Idaho border between Spokane, Wash., and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

“We just continue to prove over and over again that the state of Idaho is the place to be for business,” says Steve Griffitts, president of the Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corp.

In the past 20-some years, 80 companies have relocated into or expanded into Kootenai County, where Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene are located. Collectively, those companies currently employ more than 5,000 people.

Some of the largest companies to open facilities in Post Falls include U.S. Bank, 400 employees; office furniture maker Kimball International, 400 employees; knife maker Buck Knives, 250 workers; and Ernest Health Inc., which operates North Idaho Advanced Care Hospital, with 150 employees.

Griffitts contends that the vast majority of the companies attracted to North Idaho end up relocating to the region. Initially, many of them are looking to expand, but after learning about the region, many decide to bring their entire operation to the Gem State.

Companies considering relocation—most come from Southern California—typically are attracted to four attributes: a business-friendly political environment, affordable housing, high quality of life, and a skilled, trained workforce.

Idaho routinely ranks near the top in national rankings for business friendly states and toward the bottom in terms of states with burdensome business taxes. In fact, Griffitts says, Idaho ranks 49^th on a list of states in terms of high business taxes.

“We have no estate taxes and low property levy rates,” says Griffitts. “We’re a balanced-budget state and a right-to-work state. We have city, county and state leaders that understand the importance of business to a state.”

At the local level, he says, government officials also understand the importance of responding quickly. For example, a few years ago, grocery distributor Sysco Corp. announced plans to open two food-distribution centers in the Northwest, one in Post Falls and one in Western Washington. Griffitts says Sysco held the grand-opening ceremony for the Post Falls facility before it had broken ground on the Western Washington facility, which reportedly was held up by regulatory issues.

One attribute that works to the advantage of economic-development efforts in North Idaho is the availability of land along heavily traveled traffic corridors. For example, a 30-acre parcel along Highway 41, one of North Idaho’s primary north-south routes, is flat and undeveloped. It’s zoned for commercial use and can accommodate retail, office, warehouse or multifamily development.

In addition to business friendliness, Idaho boasts a low cost of living and a high quality of life. The median home price in Kootenai County typically hovers below the $190,000 mark, making homes more affordable in the Coeur d’Alene-Post Falls area than in most metropolitan areas.

Quality-of-life attributes include a close proximity and easy access to lakes and rivers, a variety of nearby recreational activities—skiing, snowboarding, fishing, hunting and a myriad of others—and a vibrant local arts-and-entertainment scene.

The trained, skilled labor force starts with strong public schools in North Idaho that feed into workforce training programs at North Idaho College, in Coeur d’Alene, and the North Idaho College Workforce Training Center, in Post Falls. Last September, Kootenai County had an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, which is lower than the national average but high enough to indicate that workers are available.

During the recent economic downturn, Griffitts says out-of-state companies have been receptive to the idea of moving their companies to a business-friendly place like Post Falls, because they are looking at a variety of ways to save money and operate more efficiently.

“Once people get out of their comfort zone, they are more open to new information,” Griffitts says. “There is more interest now than ever.”

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