By Joey Gunning, Strategic Growth Manager, Greater Spokane Inc.
At the end of 2024, the Journal of Business reported that three of the top 10 Most Read Stories of the Year involved developments occurring in Liberty Lake. This is based on online page-views data generated by Google Analytics. The three Liberty Lake-related articles that made the list included one about Topgolf coming to Liberty Lake (#8), and two about Costco; first eyeing Liberty Lake and then scrapping those plans (#1 and #2, respectively).
Clearly, Liberty Lake’s economic growth is a hot topic. But why?
According to Lightcast population data, Liberty Lake’s population has grown by 40% in the last 10 years (up from about 9,500 to nearly 13,400). The prime working age population (30-54) has accounted for 37% of this change, while the population of those in the 55-64 age group has declined 7% in the same period.
But where this gets interesting is when you look at data around remote workers. Lightcast’s Community Indicators Report reveals that two of the top four Census Tracts in Spokane County with the highest volume of remote workers fall within the boundaries of Liberty Lake. Remote workers in those two Census Tracts make up 10% of the total population there – double the countywide average of 5%.
This means Liberty Lake isn’t just growing; it’s attracting a new kind of workforce. With its prime working-age demographic on the rise and a disproportionate concentration of remote workers, Liberty Lake is emerging as a hotspot for professionals seeking flexibility without sacrificing quality of life.
From 2018-2023, Liberty Lake’s fastest-growing industry was NAICS code 51 – Information – which experienced 169% growth. This parallels trends in Silicon Valley, the nation’s hub for the Information sector, where the industry’s explosive growth laid the foundation for another major shift: a healthcare boom.
Since 2011, Silicon Valley’s fastest growing industry (besides Information) has been Health Care and Social Assistance, with 84% employment growth. This number far outpaced the national rate of change for that period (31%)
You can see in the graph above that the growth really started taking place around 2011. So what was taking place in the 10 years leading up to 2011 that may have set the ground work for this health care boom?
The growth of the Information sector.
Information was Valley’s #1 growing industry from 2002-2011, at 41% employment growth, even through the Great Recession of 2008.
An LA Times article on July 17, 2011 boasts “What recession? It’s boom time again in Silicon Valley”. Hot start-ups such as Dropbox were negotiating funding rounds that would make them worth billions. Investors were piling into technology initial public offerings. Venture capitalists poured more than $2.3 billion into Bay Area start-ups in the first quarter of 2011 alone.
It didn’t take long for this Information Technology sector boom to infiltrate the health care sector.
An article from the Consulate General and Innovation Centre Denmark in 2021 titled “Silicon Valley’s Tech Giants are Investing Heavily in Health Care” describes how Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are gaining market share in the health care sector at a high speed, and how “Silicon Valley is working hard to find areas that are complementary to the pharmaceutical companies’ development of medicines and areas where technological solutions can add value and increase efficiency.” The University of Southern California published an article in November 2023, “A New Major Player in Healthcare: The Growing Role of Silicon Valley,” all about Silicon Valley’s push to create a completely new high-tech healthcare concept.
So, is it possible for Liberty Lake to follow a similar trajectory?
Consider this: health care is currently Liberty Lake’s 4th largest industry (by employment) but lags 30% behind the national average for an area its size. Lightcast projects 10% growth over the next five years. However, given Liberty Lake’s similarities with Silicon Valley and its high concentration of remote workers, combined with Evergreen Bioscience’s work to bolster the industry in the entire region, the conditions are ripe for health care to become Liberty Lake’s fastest-growing industry over the next decade.
In many ways, Liberty Lake is positioning itself as the “Silicon Valley of the Inland Northwest.” Its unique blend of growth, innovation, and workforce talent could transform it into a regional leader – not just in remote work or tech but in redefining what a small city can achieve.
Liberty Lake might not be Silicon Valley quite yet, but it’s proving you don’t need a coast to ride the wave of innovation.
