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Tri-City leaders have worked feverishly for decades to build an economy that isn’t overly reliant on Hanford cleanup and on the region’s farmers and food processors.
Hanford and food production remain the twin engines that drive the Mid-Columbia region. As population gains of the past two decades attest, the Tri-Cities is growing beyond its roots in nuclear waste and french fries.
The Benton-Franklin metro area was home to 312,000 last year, a gain of over 62%, or 120,000 people since the 2010 Census.
Health services, distribution centers, high-tech food manufacturing and education are all in growth mode. And the area is increasingly popular with retirees, drawn by 300 days of sunshine and lower cost of living (relative to Seattle and Portland.)
Our growth isn’t without pain.
The Tri-City Herald has documented the housing shortage, demand for new schools and stress on public infrastructure, even as it celebrates economic development wins, such as the Darigold plant under construction in Pasco, Richland’s prospective carbon-free fertilizer plant and two massive Amazon warehouses due to open this year.
This is why we have started Boom Town Tri-Cities, a free weekly newsletter to deliver a roundup of the most compelling economic news from our community and region to your inbox.
Every Wednesday morning, we deliver the top Mid-Columbia stories by email to help you keep up.
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This story was originally published March 17, 2023 at 5:00 AM.