These towns focus on marketing and public relations whilst bidding for business and government operations, such as factories or off-site data processing.
For instance, International Falls, Minnesota markets itself as a site for sub-zero temperature experiments, Ottawa, Illinois has attracted three Japanese firms, Freeport, Maine has become a center for mail-order companies such as L. L. Bean, and Mobile, Arizona has become the home of a number of solid-waste landfills.
The primary employers in an academic community are boarding schools, colleges, universities, research laboratories, or corporate training facilities.
However, academic institutions primarily offer medium-skilled or professional jobs, while factories tend toward low-skilled work.
Benefits for the government center include improved public services, increased efficiency, and economic savings.
Examples: Deadwood, South Dakota; Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; Tombstone, Arizona; St. Charles, Missouri; Pleasant Hill, Kentucky; Intercourse, Pennsylvania.