As we told you yesterday, the city of Covington hit a major economic milestone last year, earning more than $1 billion in payroll income.

Our Emily Sisk caught up with city leaders to learn how Covington is attracting new businesses and what's next to keep the growth going.

2025 was $1 billion year for the city of Covington, as the River city broke a record for the most annual payroll income, which came in at $1.16 billion.

Mayor Ron Washington said Covington had this success because of its ability to attract businesses large and small.

When people come here, they say, mayor, I love going to small business.

I love shopping locally, I love shopping at my neighbor's store.

And, you know, our neighbors are our business owners.

They're living here.

They're sending their children to school here.

They're part of the fabric of Covington.

In the city, is working to support small business growth through incentives like rent subsidies.

The city will provide up to $500 of rent relief during a small businesses first year.

If we can give them that little bit of a break for that first year, we've seen in the numbers, bear it out.

They tend to be a lot more successful in a lot longer term.

And according to Covington's 2025 impact report, that support is making a difference when it comes to the survival rate of small businesses.

The failure rate for, a business in the first year nationally is about 10% higher than it is in Covington.

The city is also focusing on retaining its historic businesses.

West said it's no surprise to come across many stores in Covington that have been operating for more than a century.

We say we embrace our grit and our glam, and those older businesses tend to give us that grit, and that determination, and kind of that reliability.

And it's all part of our identity now.

Mayor Washington also mentioned larger businesses making their home in Covington.

He referenced companies like Marfo in a French based operation that makes airline food, which decided to invest its first American plant in the river city.

They looked at the whole United States and they said, where do we want to put our plant?

Where do we want to put our factory?

And they picked right here City of Covington.

And things aren't slowing down.

With construction underway on the new Covington Central riverfront, a 23 acre multi-use site.

There's single family housing there.

There's, It's a multi-use facility.

We're planning a hotel in that location.

Parking garage, condos, townhomes.

It's coming to central.

Riverfront.

West said part of Covington's mission is to stay authentic, which means staying away from chain stores and restaurants.

He believes this helped the city earned national accolades last year, like being a top small U.S.

city for food and drink.

We embraced that quirkiness.

And it's it makes us authentic.

And I think people appreciate today that authenticity.

It's not a chain.

It's not generic.

You're not going to find what we have here anywhere else on the planet.

Tom West said he wants Covington to continue with this trajectory of growth, but maintain its history and local culture.

In Covington for Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Sisk.

Thank you so much, Emily.

According to Covington's 2025 Impact Report, the city brought in nearly 700 new jobs just last year.