agri	mine	cnst	mfg	T/U	whol	retl	fire	serv	totl
Sales
Sales Distribution Year 3 Rate	0.98%	1.06%	2.06%	19.50%	10.95%	6.31%	5.25%	34.04%	19.85%	100.00%
US Sales Distribution Year 3	0.76%	3.19%	4.38%	23.82%	10.45%	9.13%	12.83%	18.20%	17.25%	100.00%
Sales Growth	447.13%	15.94%	4.49%	2.17%	22.65%	-7.32%	-12.33%	32.00%	-0.56%	11.57%
US Sales Growth	31.81%	39.26%	17.92%	9.15%	14.91%	12.99%	4.84%	21.31%	11.54%	13.28%
Employment Distribution
Emp. Distribution Yr. 1 Rate	0.92%	1.07%	4.28%	11.98%	5.48%	5.20%	15.18%	10.03%	45.85%	100.00%
US Employment Distribution Year 1	1.81%	0.54%	5.66%	14.26%	5.50%	5.03%	17.57%	7.66%	41.97%	100.00%
Emp. Distribution Yr. 3 Rate	1.00%	0.07%	4.45%	10.78%	5.20%	5.40%	15.50%	10.09%	47.50%	100.00%
US Employment Distribution Year 3	1.85%	0.45%	6.02%	12.90%	5.38%	5.14%	17.79%	7.62%	42.84%	100.00%

About the Area Vitality Measures
Startup Activity:
Along with branch development, the startup activity index is the surest indicator of an area's ability to generate economic dynamism from new sources. The Startup Activity Rate measures the percentage of firms which began operations over the last year and compares them to the number of firms doing business in the area for which ages can be identified.

New Branch Attraction:
Since new branch facilities are not included in the Startup Activity Index, ratings for new branch development provide an important supplement to the picture of new facility vitality in any area. Along with entrepreneurial vitality, new branches create important support for regional growth and are often used as indicators of business perception. New branches also tend to be more stable than entrepreneurial starts. The Branch Attraction Rate analyzes recently developed branch facilities as a percentage of business facilities in the area and sector. The timing of new branch development cannot be tracked as precisely as entrepreneurial startup activity. The branch attraction analysis generally captures branches developed over the previous year, but reporting procedures can distort the actual "start" date of some number of branch facilities, which may be older than the databases in which they first appear.

Employment and Sales Distribution:
Healthy economic diversity and balance can be assessed by reviewing employment and sales distribution data. Rates shows the percentage of sales or jobs as a percentage of the total area economy.

Sales Growth:
Sector by sector analysis of area sales vitality is indicated by the Sales Growth Index, which compares sales growth percentages of locally operated firms with national sales growth in each sector. For this measure, all company sales are attributed to headquarters locations.

Business Failure:
Business failure rates are calculated from the pools of firms and establishments doing business at the start of the analysis period. There are separate measures for companies and for all establishments. Firms are tracked for three years. The number of those remaining in operation three years later is compared to the original group, yielding a Business Failure Rate. Areas with high vitality performance -- especially high entrepreneurial, new branch attraction and business in-migration rates -- often develop relatively low retention rates. Conversely, low growth areas often indicate high retention rates as testament to a less dynamic competitive environment. This analysis does not separate out relocating firms, creating error margins averaging less than 0.2% for states and 0.6% in metro areas and counties.

About the Data

This Profile creates a picture of area economic vitality largely unavailable from other sources. Utilizing data on over 18 million US business establishments, the Profile analyzes entrepreneurial vitality, new branch attraction, employment and sales distribution balance by sector, sales growth vitality and area business failure rates. By tracking and aggregating the actual performance of millions of individual business facilities, BizMiner Area Profiles provide measures of area business vitality that are far more dynamic than "snapshot" job statistics or indirect indicators such as population or construction activity. Rates are compared US average performance in the same category for all measures displayed in the report.

Detailed explanations of measures can be found on the last page of this profile. Area profiles on over 3,000 US states, metropolitan areas and counties can be accessed online at www.bizminer.com. Analysis by detailed industry trends at the local and national levels are available through our 2.5 million online Market Research Reports. Industry financial benchmarks on 75,000 business segments are online at www.bizminer.com.