For a Western town that gangster Al Capone once described as a little too rough for him, Ogden today looks pretty staid and dowdy.
A tired 1950s-style welcome arch hangs over downtown's main thoroughfare. The Utah city has so little in the way of glitz or glamour that folks drive 40 miles south to Salt Lake City just for a taste of fine dining or upscale shopping. Less-kind critics have dubbed Ogden the "armpit of Utah."
Yet for all its humdrumness, the Ogden metropolitan area is a steady and surprising economic overachiever. Unemployment rates hover around 3.