Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of Boomtowns just named Doba’s hometown–Orem, Utah—with a 3.8 percent one-year job growth rate and an 8.6 percent five-year growth rate, the 9th best midsize city in America to do business in. The May issue (on newsstands now) reports the newest entrepreneurial hotbeds are in smaller communities found in places that have never before registered as business centers. To find where your city ranks visit www.Inc.com/bestcities.

While I can personally take pride in Inc. magazine’s nod—because after all, Doba, along with dozens and dozens of other locally-based companies, is helping that ranking by growing quickly, offering stable and well-paying jobs to those who qualify, and by just being successful at what we do—the real story here isn’t our town’s ranking so much as it is in recognizing that entrepreneurial hotbeds are moving even further out. From Inc. magazine:

“Call it the revenge of the boondocks. For several years now, the nation’s entrepreneurial hotbeds have been migrating from the major urban centers to smaller cities on the periphery. But a funny thing happened on the way to Inc.’s 2006 Hot Cities list. Demographic trends have accelerated to the point that what once constituted the periphery is no longer, well, peripheral. … The rise of these small communities is the most important trend emerging from this year’s survey of the nation’s hottest places to do business.”

“The Small Business Administration estimates that small companies generate as many as three-quarters of the nation’s new jobs; as a result, a region showing strong job creation is likely to be a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity. What’s more, strong job growth suggests that a region’s economy is expanding. That means new demand and new opportunities.”

Here’s my take on all of this (and really, it’s quite simple). I think entrepreneurs don’t like large cities. Large cities are stifling and hyper-competitive and tend to charge as much as $35-$65 per sq. ft. per year or more for sub-par office space. By contrast, the outlying areas featured in Inc. magazine’s list, including Orem, are at least one-half—and sometimes one-quarter—less expensive to do business in. Large cities seem unable to attract and keep talent with any sense of affordability, while many smart and savvy workers are more than happy to migrate to the ‘higher quality of life’ afforded by towns like Orem.

Finally, it’s like the entrepreneurs of old. When they struck out on their own to find fame and fortune, because it was untapped and ripe for the picking, many of them headed west. Same thing today. Entrepreneurs are taking over the ‘periphery’ as more and more of us recognize that smaller cities and towns are just as viable as the large cities. Strong job growth like we’re experiencing here in Utah suggests an expanding economy, which means new demands and opportunities for entrepreneurs. This is in stark contrast to the nation’s largest urban areas, which continue to lag. New York City, for example, comes in at No. 292 on the Inc. magazine list, while Boston is at No. 343 and Philadelphia is at No. 392. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d hate to own large amounts of corporate real estate any of those cities.