SmartAsset, a New York-based personal finance technology company, has rated Spokane No. 4 among top-performing economies in Washington state. 

The rankings are part of a broader, nationwide study by SmartAsset on the areas with the most incoming investments in business, real estate, government, and the local economy as a whole. 

Rankings were determined by evaluating four factors: business establishment growth, gross domestic product growth, new building permits, and municipal bond investment.

Researchers scored every county in the study based on those factors, weighting each equally. Scores then were combined to determine a ranking of cities. With that ranking, researchers then created an index where the county with the most incoming investments was assigned a value of 100 and the county with the least investment activity received a zero.  

The study arrived at an overall GDP growth index of 5.6 for Spokane County, placing it fourth among 10 counties in Washington state, behind King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. Spokane County showed 2 percent business growth, $2.07 billion in GDP growth, 12.8 new building permits per 1,000 homes, and $2,469 in municipal bonds per capita. 

In another recent SmartAsset study, Spokane ranked ninth among Washington counties for lowest per-capita debt. Counties were analyzed by the amount of debt residents held across three categories: credit cards, auto, and mortgage, compared to local income.

Spokane’s debt index was 54.15, just behind Whitman County with 54.38. Clallam County ranked the highest in Washington state with an index of 68.32, with a high ranking indicating low per-capita debt.