While many people have heard the term “creative class” thanks to the writings and research of Richard Florida, there are many who haven’t heard this term, and there are many who are confused by it.

Personally, I like “creative community” better because it communicates more of what we’re trying to foster. “Class” has too many negative connotations. While it’s not meant to imply elitism or classism, it can sound that way. The fact is that members of the creative class/community come from all economic strata – from starving artist to stock-option laden dot-com startup dude.

What is our definition of the creative community? It’s anyone whose primary method of making a living involves creating and monetizing ideas (intellectual property, if you will). In other words, they generate ideas that grow the economy. These ideas cut across the arts, academia, R&D, graphic design, architectural design, engineering, hardware and software development, bio-tech, biometrics and other industry segments that drive net new knowledge.

Economists who track this segment sometimes struggle to track these job roles within current job codes, but here is a definition from the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. They also have a nifty county-by-county Creative Class Employment by County tool.