Vicksburg’s economy is near the top of a new listing of similar-sized cities, and the corporation studying the numbers says it’s because the city has diverse industries and had steady per capita income leading up to the current recession.

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Of 574 cities on the list by Florida-based POLICOM Corporation, Vicksburg and Warren County, listed as one entity, are ranked 66th.

“Over an extended period of time, the Vicksburg economy has been relatively stable in size and quality,” said William H. Fruth, president of the economics research firm.

Considered a Micropolitan Area because of its size, Vicksburg has ranked as low as 89th and as high as 38th since the firm’s annual economic ratings began in 2004. At 66, it’s higher this year than similarly sized cities in the state such as Tupelo and Oxford.

The size is considered a micropolitan, which is a locale with 10,000 to 50,000 people occupying at least one county. Large cites, called Metropolitan Statistical Areas, contain at least one urbanized area of more than 50,000 in population, plus one or more counties with social and economic ties to the core city as measured by commuting trends.

Vicksburg has stayed strong in the measuring because it has not over-relied on any single industry, the study found.

Not taken into consideration is the closings of plants and job losses and other cutbacks in 2008. That’s because 2007 is the latest year counted in the income data by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. Fruth said he expects many of the highly rated cities will decline in the firm’s next study.

Since the last measurement, auto parts suppliers CalsonicKansei and Yorozu closed plants at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex. SpecFab and Armstrong World Industries’ flooring plant, both at the Port of Vicksburg, have closed. Layoffs and benefits cuts have come in the gaming and manufacturing sectors.

However, the area is not considered dependent on a single industry, unlike the college-driven economies of Oxford and Hattiesburg or in the case of Tupelo, where closings and layoffs have hit the area’s furniture-making industry in recent years.

“It’s a long-term look, so unless an area had a complete meltdown, diversification is important,” Fruth said, adding employment and wage shifts can be more dramatic in smaller cities such as Vicksburg and Warren County. “History suggests it’ll go back to being rock solid,” he said.

Earned income is factored into ratings alongside such “negative” markers as per capita income from welfare programs and Medi-caid assistance. Earnings and wages at various points in the past 20 years are weighted differently to allow for boom and bust cycles in local economies. Balance in all categories dictates a higher rating.

Wayne Mansfield, executive director of the Warren County Port Commission, says the area’s rating is proof of the local economy’s ability to weather the recession.

“It’s a pretty good indicator of the balance of the economy,” Mansfield said. “We don’t have all our eggs in one basket.”

College towns such as Oxford, a spot behind Vicksburg on the micro list, and Hattiesburg, 317th on the list of larger metropolitan areas, tend to “flat-line” if no business activity is spun off directly from university research, Fruth said.

The opposite is true for cities where rapid growth has carried them to high ratings in the study. Fruth pointed out the top-rated micros — Hilton Head, S.C., and the small, ski resort-heavy Colorado towns of Edwards and Durango — might trend down when the full effects of the recession show up for all cities studied.

“Many are tourist destinations, and resorts will have a rapid fall,” Fruth predicted.

Fruth is a former one-term mayor of Tiffin, Ohio, and is a member of several economic development councils and research groups, including the American Institute for Economic Research, American Economic Association and the Florida Economic Development Council. Since starting POLICOM in 1998, Fruth has conducted more than 150 economic improvement studies.

Houston and its suburbs led the list of 366 metropolitan areas on the strength ratings, followed by the Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C., areas. The Memphis MSA, which includes northwest Mississippi and southeast Arkansas, rated 37th. Areas inside the state on the list include the Jackson metro area, rated 91st and Gulfport-Biloxi, rated 350th. Notables in the Southeast were Birmingham-Hoover, Ala., at 14th, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, at 20th, Orlando-Kissimmee, at 28th, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway at 55th, Baton Rouge at 115th, Shreveport-Bossier City at 141st, New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, at 269th, and Hattiesburg at 317th.

Rated last on the lists are Tallulah, La., on the micro list and Danville, Ill., on the metro list.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com