| Great Falls jobs projected to be created by Touro Montana Osteopathic Medical School: 360 Projected employment growth across Montana by 2040: 1,700 Capital investment to complete school construction in 2024: $53 million Faculty and staff: 70 Total annual compensation of School employees: $11.7 million Medical student class size: 125 Medical student population in third year of operations: 375 Projected local spending per student per year, not including tuition: $31,224 Annual economic impact created by Medical School by 2030: $106.3 million Population growth projected by 2030 as a result of Medical School: 481 By 2040: 1,984 Great Falls rank as best city nationwide for first-time homebuyers: 4th Great Falls rank of best cities in Western U.S. to live in after the pandemic: 10th Number of 2021 Great American Defense Communities in nation: 5 Number in Montana: 1 (Great Falls!) Montana places named in New York Times’ 52 global locations to love in 2021: 1 (Golden Triangle) Montana bars named one of five most extraordinary bars in the world: 1 (Sip ‘N Dip) Number of entrepreneurs and developers who presented planned investments at Ignite 2021: 20 Number of high school entrepreneurs in Golden Triangle who won prizes in Montana Chamber Foundation’s The Prospects competition: 6 Cost of living in Great Falls compared to national average: 89.5% Spokane cost of living: 106.9% Bozeman cost of living: 108.6% Seattle cost of living: 156.0% San Francisco cost of living: 192.3% Average wage increase in Great Falls MSA 2019Q3-2020Q3: 3.4% Dollar amount of average wage increase: $1,438 Number of local entrepreneurs and businesses coached [TM1] by GFDA during quarter: 206 Of these, number of new coaching [TM2] clients: 54 Number of business training sessions offered during quarter: 13 Number of training participants: 350 Number of businesses bought or started by coached clients during quarter: 2 New capital secured by entrepreneur clients during quarter: $228,177 Government contracts won by clients during quarter: $9,044,941 Jobs supported by our Small Business Development Center during quarter: 694 GFDA-produced professional development business webinars now available online 24/7: 44 Most recent SBA 504 effective loan rate fixed for 20 years: 3.016% Businesses active with our Procurement Technical Assistance Center during quarter: 120 Amount of local business loans closed during quarter: $1,500,000 Amount of loans we approved during quarter: $3,030,170 New businesses opened in downtown Great Falls during quarter: 2 Number of new businesses opened in downtown Great Falls in 2020: 20 Downtown project announcements during quarter: 2 Downtown business retention/expansion visits during quarter: 19 Downtown businesses working on expansions: 17 Downtown target businesses contacted during quarter: 24 Downtown target meetings during quarter: 6 Free Brownfield assessments in progress: 6 New leads generated into our pipeline during quarter: 66 New active projects generated into our pipeline: 33 Total active projects this quarter: 51 New companies added to our pipeline CRM: 232 Companies actively engaged this quarter: 122 Number of followers of Live in Great Falls social mediums: 5,716 Number of visitors to Live in Great Falls relocation website to date: 12,511 Facebook views of our first talent attraction video in 24 hours of release: 11,000+ Views to date: 37,000+ Great Falls commercial building permits issued during quarter: 29 Great Falls commercial building permit value: $4,082,578 Montana rank of best states to start a small business: 1st Montana rank as best state for physicians: 1st Montana rank of least selfish states: 4th Montana rank of least stressed states: 9th Number of short-term rentals in Golden Triangle: 589 New electric generating capacity in U.S. in 2021 projected to come from wind and solar: 70% Utility-scale solar power additions projected this year in U.S.: 15.4 gigawatts Wind power additions projected this year in U.S.: 12 gigawatts Percentage of this investment that will take advantage of Montana wind and sun resources: ? For info contact Jolene Schalper at [email protected] or 1-406-750-4481 PDF of 2021Q1 GFDA Index | 
