2025 Economic Outlook for Greater Grand Rapids Shared at The Right Place’s Annual Event

Today, regional economic development organization The Right Place, Inc. hosted its 2025 Economic Outlook for the Greater Grand Rapids Region. The event featured a state of the region presentation by The Right Place, Inc. President and CEO Randy Thelen, a national forecast by Fifth Third Bank Managing Director and Chief Economist Jeff Korzenik, a state forecast by W.E. Upjohn Institute President Michael Horrigan, and manufacturing insights from W.E. Upjohn Institute Senior Economist Susan N. Houseman.

2024 Right Place Accomplishments

The Right Place’s Randy Thelen provided an update on second-year progress against the 3-year strategic plan goals (2023-2025). Click here to read the entire strategic plan. In 2024, the organization’s work has resulted in:

• 1,800 new and retained jobs against a 3-year goal of 4,000 new and retained jobs.
• $26.96 average hourly wage against a 3-year goal of $26.50 average wage.*
• $445m in new capital investment against a 3-year goal of $550m.
• $200m in community development against a 3-year goal of $100m.
• Hosting more than 16,000 Tech Week attendees.
• Hosting a sold-out Developer Day with 160 developers and construction firms.
• Hosting a sold-out Place Matters Summit.
• Supporting over 600 area interns at Hello West Michigan’s Intern Connect event.
• Facilitating 20 business expansion projects.
• Collaborating with our partner counties with events and job creation.
• Coordinating 600 business retention visits.
• Launching a comprehensive AI Roadmap to help local manufacturers navigate AI
• Publishing four custom research reports: State of the Region, Tech Report, Development Report and Talent Report.

(*This wage goal refers to the hourly rate of jobs created/retained within projects The Right Place directly works on in its 8-county coverage region.)

These achievements reflect a shared commitment to growing not just the economy but the quality of life in our communities. Every job created and dollar invested is a step toward a stronger region. To read more about The Right Place’s accomplishments this year, check out this blog.

During his presentation, Thelen also noted that Right Place staff coordinated 600 business retention visits. These meetings allowed staff to learn more about existing businesses and engage in dialogue to help ensure their prosperity in the region. The Right Place is often known for helping recruit businesses to the region, but as the figure shows, most of its work is helping existing businesses.

State of the Region Report

After highlighting Right Place's accomplishments, Thelen walked the crowd through its third annual State of the Region report. This report is designed to inform the community of key trends impacting the region. It is the result of qualitative insights from The Right Place’s economic development work across its 8-county collaborative and quantitative economic research performed by its Business Intelligence team.

After completing over 600 business retention visits across the region this year, we’ve learned that:

• Fewer companies—32% in 2024 vs. 43% in 2023—reported struggles with recruitment. This improvement reflects the progress in addressing workforce needs.
• 62% of companies reported increasing sales, though we saw a slight uptick in companies reporting decreased sales.
• 45% of businesses are increasing employment this year, a decrease from 49% in 2023. However, stability remains a theme, with 52% maintaining current workforce levels.
• Over half—53%—of businesses plan to expand their operations. This is a slight dip from 57% last year, but still a strong signal of optimism and growth.

These insights highlight both the opportunities and challenges businesses are navigating. Recruitment remains a focal point, but there’s a promising trend toward stability and growth, even in a complex economic environment.

Take a look at some more key insights from our 2024 State of the Region report:

People

• 6.1% population growth over the last decade, significantly outpacing the statewide average.
• 37% of people possess a bachelor’s degree or higher, which is indicative of our region’s growing competitiveness.
• There is a higher concentration of young people as a share of the population compared to the nation.

Place

• 2.5% industrial vacancy rate, reflecting Greater Grand Rapids’ industrial strength.
• 9% increase in residential building permits over the past year, signaling growing confidence in the region’s housing market and the region’s ability to meet the demands of a rising population.
• The cost of living is 8% below the national average.
• 348,000 more air travel passengers at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport over the past year.

Prosperity

• Regional employment reached 591,000 jobs, marking faster growth than both state and national levels since 2019.
• 53% of companies are planning expansions.
• 62% of companies are reporting increasing sales.
• 45% of companies are planning to increase hiring.
• 39,668 tech jobs, reflecting an increase of nearly 4,300 jobs since the Tech Strategy launched in 2021.

In summarizing the State of the Region report, Thelen noted that, overall, business leaders in the region have found many reasons to remain optimistic. Most companies are planning for near-term expansions and experiencing increasing sales. The region has accelerated beyond pre-pandemic job levels and is experiencing job growth across many key industries. In general, the region continues to maintain an affordable cost of living compared to national averages.

“The region continues to outperform state and national averages on many key economic indicators,” said Randy Thelen, President and CEO of The Right Place. “Notably, we are a population growth center that continues to outpace both the state and nation when it comes to attracting and retaining the next generation at a time when communities across the country are seeing a declining youth population.”