Economic Development 
About our Workforce
Corvallis and Benton County have a very talented and creative workforce. Not only do we have the highest education level in the State, but 2004 Harvard Business Review ranked Corvallis as the 15th most creative community in the US. With exceptional education programs from Oregon State University and Linn Benton Community College, and innovate local companies and research facilities like ONAMI, HP, ATS, Korvis Automation, Nypro, AVI Biopharma, SIGA Technologies, Gene Tools and many others, our workforce is highly trained.
2005 Labor Force Status Total % Labor Force 42,212 Employed 40,494 95.9% Unemployed 1,612 3.8% In Armed Forces 106 Not In Labor Force (incl. Student) 24,084
2005 Education Attainment Total % Population Age 25+ 52,501 < Grade 9 1,401 2.7% Grade 9-12 1,906 3.6% High School 7,071 13.5% Some College 11,063 21.1% Assoc Degree 3,920 7.5% Bach Degree 15,059 28.7% Grad Degree 12,081 23.0%
To learn more about Benton County and neighboring Linn and Lincoln county's workforce and employment situation, go to the Oregon Employment Department region 4 web site. Detailed Census Data (2000) and articles on the County Economy can be found there.
Corvallis is in the top ten for the number of PHD's per capita in 2005
The whole list from the US Census bureau includes:
- Ithaca, N.Y. MSA
- Blacksburg-Christianburg-Radford, Va. MSA
- Ames, Iowa MSA
- College Station-Bryan, Texas MSA
- Corvallis, Ore. MSA
- State College, Pa. MSA
- Iowa City, Iowa MSA
- Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
- Bloomington, Ind. MSA
- Gainesville, Fla. MSA
- Athens-Clarke County, Ga.
- Santa Fe, N.M. MSA
- Columbia, Mo. MSA
- Morgantown, W.Va. MSA
- Boulder, Colo. MSA