As professionals leave urban areas, they’re finding cutting-edge jobs and livability in Happy Valley. A vibrant community of visionary thinkers, business leaders and researchers collaborating toward a common goal: success for their customers and benefits for consumers who benefit from their advancements. Together they are transforming industries with innovation in automation, biotech, materials science, big data and more, while enjoying the quality of life benefits unique to our area.
Happy Valley is famous for its livability. The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com recently ranked State College as #60 in a nationwide list of best places to live based on amenities, wages, commute and real estate demand. Forbes named State College one of the best college towns in America with its high marks for business and careers, noting the below-national-average cost of living. Reader’s Digest calls it ‘one of the best places to move to before it gets too crowded,’ and Niche.com lists several Happy Valley neighborhoods in their top five picks for the whole nation.
State College isn’t Boston, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, and BioMagnetics CBO Ted Liberti says that’s a good thing. Being an ‘underdog’ gives Happy Valley professionals an advantage according to Liberti.
“There are a lot of pros, but for me the biggest thing comes down to our attitude,” he says. “I love Jason Kelce’s speech when the Eagles finally won the Super Bowl in 2018. He lists all the negative things that had been said about the coaches and the players, one by one. ‘You’re a bunch of underdogs! And you know what an underdog is? It’s a hungry dog… And hungry dogs run faster! …Bottom line is, we wanted it more.’”
“Our network’s desire to succeed, prosper and put Happy Valley on the map grows each year and our successes spur others to aim high, solve valuable problems, find the right partners and break through to the next level. We need to keep that underdog attitude, exploit being small but mighty, and punch above our weight. We need to want it more, and I think we increasingly are getting hungrier,” he says.