Dalton named one of the 50 best places in the United States to work in manufacturing

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Dec. 22—Detroit, Michigan, didn't make the list. Nor did Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or Los Angeles, California, or scores of other well-known cities.

But Dalton came in at 47 on SmartAsset's 2021 list of the 50 top places in the United States to work in manufacturing.

"That's great," said Dalton resident Rebecca McKinney.

McKinney said she works at a local restaurant but much of her family works for local manufacturing companies.

"My dad and my brother work for Shaw Industries," she said. "I've got an uncle and aunts and cousins who work for a number of different carpet companies."

Based in New York City, SmartAsset's website (smartasset.com) said it publishes "educational tools to help people navigate life's big personal finance decisions," including advice on retirement, taxes, investing and places to live.

The website said the company's list of best places to work in manufacturing is based on an index that includes factors such as three-year and one-year manufacturing job growth, three-year and one-year growth in manufacturing wages, housing costs and the unemployment rate.

This is the second straight year that Dalton has made the list. Before 2020, SmartAsset only listed the top 25 places to work in manufacturing.

"This once again points out our No. 1 asset here, which is that we are a manufacturing community," said Dalton Mayor David Pennington. "We've got a great utility, Dalton Utilities, which is very competitive. We are on I-75. We've got two railroads. That all helps for distribution, and we've got a trained and experienced manufacturing workforce."

Dalton is also just 30 minutes away from the Appalachian Regional Port in Crandall, which provides access by railroad to the Port of Savannah.

Whitfield County's top three private employers are Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries and Engineered Floors, according to the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority (JDA). The JDA reports that 37% of Whitfield County's jobs are in manufacturing.

Pennington notes floorcovering built Dalton and is still a vital asset but manufacturers in fields ranging from automotive parts to shooting clays to solar modules now have facilities in the Greater Dalton area.

"The citizens of Dalton and Whitfield County have manufacturing and entrepreneurship in our blood," said Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen. "It is an honor, but no surprise, we were named in the top 50 places to work in manufacturing. This coupled with our previous distinction earlier this year as one of the best places to work from home makes us a truly unique community."

In January, internet provider InMyArea.com named Dalton the best city in Georgia and one of the top five medium-sized cities in the country to work from home. The rankings were based on the percentage of residents with access to high-speed internet and its costs, as well as the cost of housing.

Dalton resident Brian Stafford said he is retired after a career working for "several carpet companies."

"When I was young, there were mills all over North Georgia — glove mills, cotton mills," he said. "Almost all of them are gone now, but carpet has continued to grow in Dalton."

Some other areas on SmartAsset's 2021 list of the best places to work in manufacturing are Athens-Clarke County (39); Cleveland, Tennessee, (5); and Columbus (16).