According to Fried, the numbers are amazing. Employment in the valley has grown from about 6,000 jobs in 1990 to nearly 15,000 jobs in 2003. Fried says the Mat-Su's population growth continues to be its best economic indicator. "The state grew by about 18 percent since 1990, Anchorage by 21 percent, those are solid growth numbers."

Compare those numbers to those of the Matanuska and Susitna valleys. During the same period, the Mat-Su Borough grew by 69 percent, the City of Wasilla grew by 67 percent, and the City of Palmer saw a whopping 91 percent growth.

Palmer's growth numbers can only be described as astronomical. It's probably one of the reasons that northwest retailer Fred Meyer bought prime real estate in downtown Palmer, and built a 70,000-square-foot building in the span of about seven months. This new grocery retail store will be open to Palmer residents about a month from now, on March 5.

"Last year Anchorage experienced a population growth of 4,095. The Mat-Su's positive growth for last year was 6,471," he said.

A good-sized portion of that positive growth is a result of Anchorage residents taking the plunge and moving to the Mat-Su area, reffered to as "the Valley" by residents. The state Department of Labor estimates that it takes 1.2 commuting wage earners to buy an average house in the Mat-Su. Compare that to the 1.6 wage earners it takes to own an average house in Anchorage. Fried says the latest commuter numbers from the Valley to Anchorage and beyond is about 35 percent.

"I'm beginning to see another trend in the Valley, though," said Fried. "Over the last decade, employment growth in the Mat-Su is nearly triple the growth in Anchorage - 68 percent growth in the Valley compared to 24 percent in Anchorage."

"What I'm beginning to hear is the giant sucking sound of the Valley economy tapping into Anchorage's economic activity."

Some of that economic activity includes a 70-80-bed hotel scheduled to go up this summer in Wasilla.

Fried said that there are also some signs that the Valley is beginning to mature a little and actually lose a little of that frontier edge. He cited some energy statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1990, 22.6 percent of the households in the Mat-Su heated their homes with wood. In 2000, that number dropped to 6.4 percent.

"And here's another statistic some Valley residents may not want to hear," Fried said. "We checked with Division of Motor Vehicles, and found out that Valley residents prefer cars to pick-ups by a nearly two-to-one ratio."