Yakima is another place where there's been a lot of good news lately. Downtown Yakima is literally rising from the dead, with developers building new hotels and condos atop the carcass of the late and unlamented Yakima Mall. Between the activity downtown and a new shopping center, 2007 was a record year for new construction in Yakima, and with a new business park being discussed for the old Boise Cascade mill site, more commercial construction seems likely.

Yakima County also benefits from its proximity to the Tri-Cities, the state's hottest local economy. From Sunnyside and Grandview, it's just a short jaunt down I-82 (ah the glories of unclogged interstate highways).

Retail activity was up more than the state average for both the city and the county, in the most-recent quarter. And job growth -- while slow at 2.3 percent year-over-year -- also was better than the state average, according to the February jobs report. There was a fall-off of 500 job in professional and business services -- the sector that real estate and finance jobs comes under -- otherwise, every other segment showed gains, except two: federal employment (down 100) and construction (flat).

Yakima's housing market is not immune from the nationwide downturn, but it's holding on. Median home prices continued to climb in the most-recent quarter. Existing home sales were down, but less than the state average. However, building permit activity was off sharply. You can get a lot more house for the money here: the median price of $152,000 is roughly half the state average and a third of the King County median.

Yakima County has some surprising manufacturers, like airplane builder CubCrafters and aerospace supplier GE Aviation, but farming still dominates. Employment should start improving in April with the start of asparagus harvest, and orchard and vineyard pruning.

Yakima County farmers have had a good run in recent years. The apple industry has shrunk and consolidated in the face of competition from China. The survivors have enjoyed better prices and strong-quality crops in recent years. There's little wheat grown in the valley, so farmers were left out of the bull market there. (It fell back significantly last week, but even at $9 a bushel, that's still about twice the historic highs.) Growers have benefited from record hay prices, Washington wine grape production has been strong, and those who still produce hops in Yakima Valley should benefit from crop failures in Europe that are driving demand (and prices) sky-high. (Which is seriously bad news for those of us who prefer aggressively hopped ales in the Northwest style.)

But residents' complaints about a lack of high-wage jobs may be valid. The median household income was just under $39,000 in 2006, according to Census data. That was 27 percent below the statewide median. And while Yakima's median increased 11.7 percent between 2000 and 2006, that wasn't enough to keep up with inflation, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics says ran at 17 percent over those years.