Reflecting on Our Community’s Growth—And Where We’re Headed

January 2026
Dave Hengel
Executive Director

When we look back at 2025, the Bemidji region’s economy experienced slow and steady growth – returning to the trend line we saw pre-pandemic. Employment in the region sits at 21,818, just over 100 more jobs than 2024. Over the last decade, our region has created 1,600 new jobs.

Unemployment in the region is up slightly to its current level of 4.8%. The uptick in unemployment rate is a sign that our labor force growth exceeded job growth. That is good news in a tight labor market. As I have shared in the past, economic development is a race for workers and talent, not companies. Companies will gravitate to region’s that have the quality of life that attract workers. Remaining a wonderful place to live and raise a family must remain a critical focus to ensure our future economic growth.

Here at Greater Bemidji—your local economic development lead — we also had a solid year. Thanks to a strong Board of Directors, trusted partners, and community support, we’ve been able to stay flexible and tackle some of the challenges our region faces. Whether it was helping out small businesses after the storm or leading initiatives like 218 Relocate, the Rail Corridor Redevelopment, the YMCA Development, the LaunchPad, our training center (Minnesota Innovation Initiative (MI2), and amping up our childcare efforts, we didn’t stop pushing our region forward.

In the past, I have shared my affinity to Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point.”  I recommend you read it – it is fascinating.  Gladwell talks about how change can suddenly take off like an epidemic once things hit a certain “tipping point.”  He believes that, despite the world appearing static and immovable, it is not. He says, “With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped.”

Well, I believe regional economies can reach that point, too—and honestly, the Bemidji area feels like it’s right on the edge of a tipping point for strong, sustained economic growth.

Our job at Greater Bemidji is to keep pushing our region closer to that tipping point. That’s why we’re all in on big ideas like the YMCA development and the redevelopment of the rail corridor. It’s why we push for changes at local and state levels to make Bemidji a better place to live, work and do business. And it’s why we’re so focused on helping out entrepreneurs and small businesses. No matter what challenges pop up, we will remain focused on moving our region forward toward sustained economic growth – toward our tipping point.  We will continue to provide “the slightest push—in just the right place” – to tip our economic growth.

What’s Next?

Each year, our Board maps out where we want to go from here – and sets an action plan for the coming years. We look at trends both in Bemidji and across the country, thought about what they could mean for us, and zeroed in on what opportunities (and hurdles) might be coming up. We believe we are on the right track.

Here’s the focus areas we’ll be focusing on in the coming years:

• Promoting the region: We all know Bemidji is a great place to live, work, raise a family, and run a business. We’re going to keep telling our story to those who may not know our region.
• Supporting business growth and small businesses: Whether you’re running a big business or small one, we’ve got resources for you—and they’re free for local businesses. We’re here to help however we can.
• Encouraging entrepreneurship and startups: Got an idea for a business? We’re here for you as well. Our LaunchPad offers space, business planning, training, tech help, financing, mentoring—you name it, we can find help for you.
• Growing, attracting, and keeping talent: As I mentioned previously, one of our biggest challenges is making sure we have enough workers. That’s going to stay a major focus moving forward.
• Building signature quality-of-life amenities: Now more than ever, people and companies can choose where they want to be. We want Bemidji to stand out. That’s why big projects like the YMCA matter—they make us a place people want to live.

Within these focus areas, we will be placing special emphasis in three key challenges. They are of critical need today in our region – and addressing them head-on will move us closer to that tipping point. They are:

• Increasing the housing stock in Bemidji: The housing challenges here – not unlike other areas – are difficult and multi-faceted. They are also debilitating to a growing economy. Greater Bemidji will focus on what we do best – encouraging new housing development throughout the region – through our development knowledge, skills and resources.
• Increasing our manufacturing base: A healthy economy has 10-15% of its employment in manufacturing.  Currently, 3% of Bemidji’s employment is manufacturing-based. Why does this matter? Manufacturing tends to offer better jobs – including higher pay and opportunity for growth – than retail or service sectors. Even more, manufacturing tends to have a further customer reach – bringing money into the region. The need for a stronger manufacturing base has long been discussed at Greater Bemidji – now is the time to make it a significant driver of our work.
• Increasing the tax base in the region: Several months ago, I shared how important tax base growth is. It is the fuel that allows the region – particularly at the City and County – to fund the infrastructure, public safety, and quality of life amenities we all expect and enjoy. Tax base impact will always be a centering focal point at Greater Bemidji as we look at where we choose to invest our time and resources.

We are here to serve you- the greater Bemidji region. We aren’t always successful – we can’t guarantee success in all our work. What you can expect from us is to lead, to encourage, to challenge, and to push our community to the tipping point of economic growth. That’s exactly what our plan of action for the coming years is attempting to do.

I’ve never been more excited about our region’s future. The best days of our region’s economy clearly remain ahead of us.