When Matt Tobolski moved his business from sunny San Diego, he couldn’t have thought of a better place than Redmond.

It had land. It had affordable power and water. It had a city government that encouraged growth. And it had access to a workforce to build the HVAC systems for data centers.

But most of all it had recreation and a reputation as a great place to live to create that work-life balance.

“It’s a fantastic place to live,” said Tobolski, who founded BasX in Redmond in 2014 and sold it in 2021. “The access to the outdoors, the people and the culture make it a fantastic place to live, raise a family and do business.”

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Tobolski is part of a generation of business owners that brought growth to the region. Business owners like him brought higher than average wage jobs because they saw the opportunity in Central Oregon and fell in love with the natural beauty of the landscape. Their arrival brought economic prosperity , but not without growing pains like high housing costs.

At the time, the population in Deschutes County was about 169,000, compared to 206,000 today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 3,017-square-mile county had only one college campus: Central Oregon Community College, which housed the beginnings of Oregon State University-Cascades . This past June, OSU-Cascades — now with its own campus, which opened in 2016 — graduated 355 students, and now offers degree programs that local businesses have identified as needed to provide an educated workforce.

In 2014, the median sales price of a home in Bend was under $300,000 and non-farm jobs employed 80,970 people.

Last year non-farm jobs employed about 108,050 people, with trade, transportation and utility jobs employing the lion’s share of people, followed by government and retail trade, according to Oregon Employment Department data.

Trade, transportation and utilities still dominate the employment landscape, accounting for 17.7% of total employment. Health and private education are second with 16.4% and leisure and hospitality are third with 15.1% of total employment, according to Oregon Employment Department data.

Nearly a half a century ago, timber was waning and Central Oregon was forced to pivot and diversify its economy, which paid off, said Damon Runberg, Business Oregon economist. Today the community supports industries like biochemistry, engineering, tourism and hospitality management and outdoor products.

“Mt. Bachelor opened in the late 1950s, which put Bend on the map as a winter tourism destination,” Runberg said. “Mountain biking hit the scene in the ‘90s, which has been a large draw, especially during the shoulder seasons. There wasn’t a moment when the regional economy shifted from timber to tourism.

“It was a slow decline in one and a slow increase in the other.”

Bend today is an example of what diversification can do to an economy, turning a timber town into one of the fastest growing metros in the country. But sometimes success can breed other issues. High housing costs and unaffordability for working class families are two areas of concern.

“Economic diversification is an important element to Bend’s success transitioning from being more than a timber town,” said Don Myll, Economic Development for Central Oregon’s Bend area director. “Early on Bend made the decision to diversify the economy. We’ve been able to withstand the ups and downs of the Great Recession and the pandemic. It affected us, but we’ve been able to respond quicker and faster.”

Central Oregon goes national

In 2019, the Brookings Institute, a nonprofit Washington, D.C., think tank, ranked Deschutes County among metro areas nationwide with a high percentage of homeowners who were in the upper tier of income. These are people who could afford to pay to have their houses cleaned, their lawns manicured, their taxes prepared and their dogs walked.

Not only is Deschutes County a haven for high earners, it also was ranked No. 5 in a 2023 Milken Institute Best Performing Cities index because of its strong access to broadband, strong gross domestic product and short-term job growth, according to the Milken Institute. The city would have ranked higher, but lost ground because of housing affordability, according to Milkin.

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Josh Lehner, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis state economist, was not surprised by the ranking. Bend is well-known for its high housing costs, and attractiveness to visitors each summer. While leisure and hospitality account for about 15% of all jobs, these jobs tend to pay below average wages, and are most impacted by the rising price to rent a one-bedroom apartment.

Today’s going rate is $1,740 in Deschutes County, according to a report by Compass Commercial. The rental rate is higher than regional cities with comparable population growth rates, including Portland, Boise, Idaho, and Kenniwick-Richland, Washington, according to the Compass report. And despite having the highest population growth in Oregon, Central Oregon has a 7.8% rental vacancy rate, Compass reported.

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“The data show the distribution of jobs across these sectors has shifted over time,” said Nicole Ramos, Oregon Employment Department regional economist. “Private education and health services has become a key sector for job growth in Central Oregon.”

Anyone driving around Bend can see the signs of growth. Construction cranes, hard hats and detours all are the hallmarks of building and growth. Compass predicts that this boom will likely keep rents flat, which will be welcome news for renters.

Les Schwab Tires, which got its start in Prineville more than a half century ago, has watched the growth affect the region. In the early days, the company offered profit sharing to employees and the company’s stores promoted from within to create a training program for anyone who wanted a career in tires, said Greg Waring, Les Schwab chief marketing officer.

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That corporate culture helps offset the relatively high cost of living in parts of Central Oregon, Waring said.

“In our experience, creating an environment that encourages excellence and growth for employees is a winning strategy,” said Waring.

Educating the workforce

Businesses have said that without an available and educated workforce, they would not be able to grow. The two higher educational systems in Central Oregon, COCC and OSU-Cascades, have adapted and developed programs that support the community’s needs.

COCC has robust aviation, culinary and engineering programs and OSU-Cascades has entrepreneur programs, and degree programs that support the hospitality and outdoor products industries.

Annemarie Hamlin, Central Oregon Community College’s vice president of academic affairs, said adding programs that meet the needs of the community is a pillar of the college’s mission statement.

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“We’re committed to building, maintaining and developing new partnerships,” Hamlin said. “We’re aware of their needs and create programs that serve Central Oregon.”

Hamlin pointed to the growth of the Madras campus that will have a cohort of nursing students and an early childhood education program. Students enrolled in the program will get hands-on learning by being able to work in the daycare that will have room for 100 children.

Partnering with businesses gives students opportunities for internships and training. That’s what happens at the aviation program at COCC, where students earn their flight hours by interning at Leading Edge Flight Academy, she said.

“We can’t grow without having qualified talent,” said BasX founder Tobolski. “It’s a huge part of a business. We have a broad employment pool that runs the gamut of talent. You don’t need to go to college to have a great career and provide for your family. We’re a huge example of that spectrum.”

With more than 750 employees today at BasX, Tobolski said some positions require engineering degrees, other manufacturing positions require a willingness to work and accept training. In the end, both positions pay a wage that a family can live on, Tobolski said.

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In fact, BasX is partnering with OSU-Cascades in a new engineering program that Tobolski hopes will bump up the talent pool in the local market.

“I look at OSU-Cascades, vs. OSU Corvallis, and see OSU-Cascades as an opportunity to be a career developer and less of a theoretical program,” Tobolski said. “There’s a huge opportunity to provide good workforce training. We can’t live without a good workforce.

“Our No. 1 asset is people, not machines.”

Growing up

Medium to large firms interested in expanding or starting in Central Oregon reach out to EDCO regularly, said Myll. These companies ask for information about available land or facilities and the region’s ability to meet needs for water, sewer, power and workforce, he said.

Bend does well in most categories, but is challenged when it comes to available land, Myll said. Recently the city of Bend opened up 96 acres for industrial development in the Juniper Ridge area on the north side of town.

But all is not lost, Myll said. Bend is known to entrepreneurs as a great place to start and grow.

“Start ups generally don’t typically have large land or infrastructure requirements, they often come to this area directly, and we always work with them,” Myll said.

When Joe Kim opened Yoli on the corner of Newport Avenue and Wall Street in Bend, he retrofitted a former coffee shop to his Korean restaurant needs.

For much of Kim’s adult life, he’s worked in the food services industry in Central Oregon. First, he was a co-owner of Five Fusion and now he and his wife, Laura, operate a small, 12-table Korean restaurant that serves on average about 50 dinners.

“That’s sustainable for us,” Joe Kim said. “We wanted a smaller restaurant because it allows us to focus on the food and the service. Bringing Korean food to Bend was an unknown.”

At one point, Joe Kim had considered moving out of Central Oregon. But two years in and the Kims attribute its success, in part, to the visitors that flock to Bend.

“It used to be the case that tourism brought in spenders,” Kim said. “We do see spikes in our business in the summer months. Tourism brings a diversity of people to Bend who are open to different types of cuisine. But there also is a diversity of new residents here who have more disposable income having moved from bigger cities, and they’re used to going out.

“I’m happy we stayed.”

The Bulletin’s yearlong series is focused on the impacts and solutions related to growth in Central Oregon.

We’re comparing how civic groups, government officials and local leaders addressed growth 20 to 25 years ago to today, with a focus on four areas — environment, infrastructure, economics and housing. Bulletin reporters will examine the success of previous solutions, current approaches to growth issues and what other cities are doing to mitigate problems related to rapid increases in population, housing shortages, economic challenges and environmental impacts.