David G. Brown, President & CEO, Greater Omaha Chamber

We can wait for the future or we can invent it.

As the Greater Omaha Chamber embarks on the implementation of Prosper 2.0, we are focused on creating a bold, new future based on people, place and prosperity. Through economic diversification, investment, and commitment to catalytic change, we can leverage our most powerful assets to encourage stronger population growth through talent attraction and retention – all while advancing opportunities for business growth and community-building.

Where do we stand today?

The 2018 Barometer is our measuring stick, a chance for us to take a hard look at our progress and evaluate our region compared to others. To do this, we gauge our standing in eight key economic and performance-related areas: Growth, Human Capital, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Infrastructure, Cost of Doing Business, Quality of Life and Private Capital. We benchmark ourselves against nine selected cities that are either our peers, competitors or thriving centers of growth and innovation.

After comparing ourselves to these high-performing cities, the 2018 Barometer shows that Omaha performs well across several areas and often ranks in the middle. We’ve advanced but at a slower pace than our aspirational cities. Our strengths include abundant arts and cultural opportunities, increasing standard of living, entrepreneurship, and low costs of doing business. We’re constantly evaluative and have identified room for growth in innovative capacity, infrastructure, aspects of human capital and in job growth.

Based on our progress so far, we know an ambitious and prosperous future is within our reach. Working together, and with your support, we can transform what “could be” into what “will be” and achieve our greatest potential as a region.

An economic scorecard of the Omaha region.