Rankings show how micropolitan areas, centered on towns with 10,000 to 50,000 people, fared during the pandemic

Heartland Forward's key focus area and top 25 micropolitans
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Micropolitan areas — centered on towns of 10,000 to 50,000 residents — have faced varied economic challenges over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, shows a ranking of micropolitans by Heartland Forward, a nonprofit focused on economic development in the central U.S. The nonprofit's 2022 ranking of the country's "most dynamic" micropolitans examined changes in key economic conditions from 2015 to 2020. The rankings also paid special attention to the change in employment in each micropolitan from Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2021 to study a town's ability to rebound from the economic halt of the early pandemic. 

Los Alamos, N.M., population 19,330, was ranked as the most dynamic micropolitan. The community benefited from an expansion of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which secured a $2.5 billion contract with Triad National Security, the rankings showed. Several western towns made the top 25, four in Colorado and three in Washington. Jefferson, Ga., was the only town east of the Mississippi River to crack the top 10. 

Towns that were centered around outdoor recreation but still offered strong, stable internet connection benefited from the pandemic, the report says. Communities "driven by food production and processing found success, in part, because such operations remained open throughout the pandemic to prevent food shortages." The National Beef Packing Company in Dodge City, Kan., helped propel the town to No. 22 in the rankings. It was ranked No. 358 in 2020.