What powers the economy in your area?

Reading the post below got me wondering what fuels the economy in your area(read what is/are the top industry/industries?) In SW PA we have The Marcellus Shale boom and gas and oil industry is pumping billions into our economy. Towns that couldn't keep open a gas station are now building hotels to accommodate everyone. I work in the oil and gas field and make decent money. Don't have to worry but won't be buying a yacht anytime soon. We use to have the coal and steel markets but they faded away for over seas jobs. This has been a true God send to this area of the nation. People in OH, WV and PA are making decent money and starting to make a come back after the bottom fell out of the coal mines many years back

DON'T MAKE THIS POLITICAL.

I'm just curious as to what everyone else in other parts of the country has as their top or higher ranking industries.
 
To be honest I really don"t think there is any one thing around here. We do have Bank of America, and what is now Wells Fargo on the banking side of things. Then we have NASCAR, a racetrack, a dirt track, and a drag strip to keep the money rolling in some of the time. The new "Research Campus" in Kannapolis was supposed to replace Cannon Mills, what used to be the largest mill in the area, when the idea was first put out to build it. As you can imagine 99% plus of the folks that were ex mill employees simply lost their jobs when everything went under....a far cry from what was promised. The same holds true for Corning that opened what was supposed to be a HUGE manufacturing facility near by. They did open one and take on a few employees, but again it never turned out like they had planned. In fact they just went in awhile back and demolished unfinished parts of the new facility.
 
Eastern Coastal Maine, aka "Downeast Maine" it's lobsters, blueberries and tourism.

Used to be Big Paper too, but that's pretty well dried up.
 
Our son has had a great job in Mooresville engineering for Cavotec. We just heard from him that he has been promoted to trying to do two jobs! He has told them this cannot go on for long. So, will they listen, or lose him altogether?
 
The daughter and her husband own a title search company and have been busy in Wheeling, WVa. for the past half dozen years and don't see any letup soon.
The Marcellus oil and gas field gets bigger all the time.
As most people know, oil isn't a fossil fuel as earlier thought. It is being produced from the depths of the earth as we speak.
This country is swimming in oil and gas and there is more reserves than all of Arabia and other middle east countrys.
 
A lot of small businesses here, but we do have two plastic films plants, the new ZF transmissions, and a Walmart distribution center. Further out, theres more small businesses, and BMW, GE, Tecknor Apex, losing the Caterpillar plant y the end of the year, several Sealed Air facilities, and Im sure a few Ive missed.
 
I helped install and maintain a cable reel/ slip ring on a Cone Wood portal crane some years back. Worked with the guy that owned Cavotec for several days. Great guy and was sorry to hear he passed away a few years ago.He knew his stuff. Cable reel held 600' of 250 mcm that was fed from the middle so we could moved 1,200' up and down the log pile. I retired back in June but that cable reel is still running great. Wonderful design. I'm sure the company has grown over the years with power distribution. This unit had a 400 amp load max.
 
In Houston it's:
The ship channel importing/exporting.
Oil and gas. Multiple refineries and chemical manufacturing plants.
Our medical facilities draw people and revenue from all over the country.

We're booming here right now and I'm betting our real estate is going to go crazy.
 
Amway, Steelcase, many small businesses, farm implement dealers, JD and others, farm crops, and farm produce markets.

Larry
 
Yep. That's what he designs, and helps to build/assemble. He likes to get his hands into the stuff. He didn't say what his other job was. They have been talking about getting him into sales. I don't think he'll like that. They sent him to Italy back in the spring. He's quite a cook/food person, so he loved the food! But that's all he liked about the trip.
 
Yep, But it is harder to get at. The oil under the sand in the middle east is easy to get to.
 
Grain farming, some cattle and hogs, and health care (mostly eldery care and nursing homes). Traverse and Big Stone counties in MN are among the most elderly in the nation.
 
Haynesville Shale oil and gas (a biggie); wood products, agriculture (corn, beans, cotton, cattle); gambling boats/tourism; Barksdale Air Force Base (another biggie); a river port that is home to several mid-size industries and a new large steel mill. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others. Inside the city, the main source of income appears to be state/federal government (us).

We used to have a Western Electric plant making telephones, but the Chinese got those jobs. Also used to have a General Motors plant making small trucks, but that went away too. They say that the new Elio car will be made in the old GM plant. We'll see.
 
In the southern part of the state where I live..

Oil; Natural Gas; Salt production.
Petroleum refineries.
Production of petrochemicals(fertilizers plastics)
Tourism
Hollywood South
Ship and oil rig building
Port of New Orleans
Commercial fishing (shrimp; crawfish and oysters)
Sugar cane and sweet potatoes
 
Guys, Here in Central Texas!
1. Texas. 1000 people a day move Here to Escape to Frozen North or Taxation of abundant State government! Cheaper Cost of Living, People up North still write G.T.T. on their door when they leave! (G.T.T.=Gone to Texas) withe the 1000 people /day moving here are the service related industry to serve the families,
2. Austin, 50 miles south, Jobs, Weather,(many many times one can play Golf in Jan/Feb/Mar in shorts and flip-flops), Music, Food! Computer, computer related industry too
3. Ft Hood,Tx,,(30 mi radius) Largest Military Instillation in the Free World!(enough said) 25 miles to my N.E. a Military driven economy!
4. One can drive all day and not leave the State!
5. Best B.B.Q. hands down!
6. there are more, But!, it may sound like we're Bragging.
Later,
John A
 
The biggest employer in my town is govt cops hwy and court house and ascs etc.
Anybody remember what they call original wealth? Farming fishing forestry and mining its where you can take something thats never existed in the economy before and add it in
 
In our area farm equipment manufacturing is a major economy driver. Within 100 or so miles of here you will find the factories and engineering offices for AGCO-Hesston (hay equipment, planters, combines), AGCO-Beloit (Sunflower equipment), Krause, Great Plains (including all the Land Pride products), Crustbuster, Excel (Hustler and Big Dog mowers), Grasshopper (mowers), Case-New Holland (skid loaders), and probably others I'm forgetting about. In addition the aircraft industry is huge in Wichita and employs many thousands of people. And, being in the heart of wheat country, everything related to agriculture production is of course highly important.
 
Here in the mid-west, its farming. Second up would be farm related services. Third would be factory. And then it would probly be all else. There is really 2 different ways you can factor in considering what fuels the economy. You can look at what employees the most number of people in one area, but that might not be what actually generates the most money in that same area. I tried to answere considering both.
 
Here in central Tx it is oil related, lots of sand just south of us and oil and gas to the west. Lots of work here building oil and gas equipment. Lots of trucking jobs here. Cattle seem to be coming back big time.
 
What folks say supports this area here in Tennessee is pretty well divided four ways. Agriculture, Tourism, Manufacturing (auto heavy) and retires. We get these folks moving in from the North or Where ever that have just sold their home , have plenty of money and lover to spend it. They eat out a lot, buy new cars,& tractors,and toys. Having such diverse economy helps when one thing slows down something else to keep things goind.
 
In mid michigan all the retired people with good pensions power our local economy. All the people that go to work every day are broke!
 
Corn, beans, wheat and crop insurance. Half the grass in this county was burned down for crops in the last four years. Hills and rocks equal crop insurance. "oops" casinos also.
 
Here In Watertown New York, it is Fort Drum, Agriculture and Tourism in that order. Tourism includes the Canadians who drive down to shop here; a lot of 'em, too.
 
Ag and logging. We also have two local door/window makers, which provide a large share of the jobs in this county. As a state, ag is the biggest dollar industry in WI and tourism is second.... unless you split dairy off from the rest of ag. Then dairy is #1, other ag is second, and tourism third.
 
I live in Southern Il. Lost two brothers-in Law to Texas. Silly people! Farming,Oil production, healthcare and Manufacturing a distant 4th.
 
I would say mostly agriculture. Rice, corn soybeans and peanuts for crops. Cattle and poultry for livestock. There are a few manufacturing jobs but just a fraction of what we had a few years ago. Unfortunately there is a growing number that rely on the government for a job or lazy check.
 
Here on the 'Sunshine Coast' I'd guess 40% retirement/wealth, 20% fishing, 20% logging, 5% building, 5% welfare. It's a nice place to live.
 
Got that right, Dave , lots of places to spend it but not many to make it. Small town of Mt. Pleasant used to have an auto parts manufacturing plant , a sugar beet plant , Total Refinery , State Home for mentally disabled , Dowell , Schlumberger , Johncock Forestery , four different new tractor dealerships/service , Dana Corp. factory , Borden Dairy Products , and probably some I've forgotten. ALL GONE !!! We have CMU , Hospital , Casino , Wally World , Meijer and a hundred fast food joints , dozen auto parts stores , car dealers , junk dealers dollar stores and anything one can think of to SPEND MONEY while paying min wage and part time.
 
Intel - Hillsboro, Oregon. Intel campuses include Aloha, Hawthorn Farm, Jones Farm and Ronler Acres which is huge. They call this area "The Silicon Forest". Also farms, nurseries, and shipping.
 
Hey I'm just north of you in Brier Hill. I used to work on Drum and my brother still does. I was going to say pot and county assistance runs the economy here.
 
Here in Arthur, IL - we have manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism.
Manufacturing - Cabinets, Garage Doors, Overhead Doors, Wagons, Trusses, Prefabricated walls, Kitchens, Wood Trim, Stainless Steel Tanks, Running Gears.

Agriculture - Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Dairy, Equine, and Seed Production

Tourism - We are an Amish community - so we get allot of tourists.

Arthur has a population of 2,300 people. We employ 8,000. In Arthur, we have 3 banks, a hub post office, 3 medical clinics, 2 dentists, 2 hardware stores, a full service men"s clothing store, locally owned drug store, 2 barber shops, 7 restaurants, a gun shop, 2 service stations, 2 implement dealers, sale barn, full service grocery store, Dollar General, a weekly newspaper, local school system, one private school, fully equipped fire department, ambulance service, funeral home, full service nursing home care, 2 - 24 hour gyms, 2 - retirement centers, 7 churches, 3 bars, realtors, 2 insurance agents, 2 attorneys, cpa firm, 2 meat cutters, 3 - tire and automotive centers, 1 photography studio, library, auto body shop, 4 - veterinarians, 2 - feed mills, seed company, agronomy retail. We are very, very fortunate here. The only thing you cannot buy here...eyeglasses.
 
Still lots of automotive biz here. The production workers are making less than they were 20 years ago, so wages aren't great. Lots of health care, UM is about 1 hour away, most folks commute to Detroit, Flint, or A2 to work. Very few jobs here pay enough to live here. The population is ageing pretty fast, lots of folks retire south, and the young folks are following them, seeking a better life.
 
Good question and it got me thinking. I knew auto manufacturing was big with Toyota and Ford, and their related suppliers. Looking at the state economic development web site I was surprised at how big. The state lists automotive mfg, biotechnology and life sciences, and general manufacturing as the top 3 in the state. Here locally state government (30 plus thousand jobs 12 miles away and both the University of Ky and their medical center with over 35000 employees. I was kind of floored reading that the UK med center had 10,000 employees.

Agriculture certainly makes an impact too. Lots of beef cows, lots of horses. It seems that both thoroughbreds and saddlebreds are picking up. In price and in breeding numbers. I'd actually never seen a mid 6 figure horse sell except at the high end of the elite thoroughbred sales. I've seen several this year in saddlebreds.
 
Grain farming, some cattle and hogs, and health care (mostly eldery care and nursing homes). Traverse and Big Stone counties in MN are among the most elderly in the nation.
 
Here in sw Wisconsin and I will include ne Iowa since if I could throw a rock a bit further it would be in Iowa.
Ag- dairy beef and crops
Trucking- ag commodities like milk, food, fuel,etc.
3M in PDC
Design Homes in PDC
Pattison sand in Clayton
 
(quoted from post at 22:57:29 08/28/14) Here in Arthur, IL - we have manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism.
Manufacturing - Cabinets, Garage Doors, Overhead Doors, Wagons, Trusses, Prefabricated walls, Kitchens, Wood Trim, Stainless Steel Tanks, Running Gears.

Agriculture - Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Dairy, Equine, and Seed Production

Tourism - We are an Amish community - so we get allot of tourists.

Arthur has a population of 2,300 people. We employ 8,000. In Arthur, we have 3 banks, a hub post office, 3 medical clinics, 2 dentists, 2 hardware stores, a full service men"s clothing store, locally owned drug store, 2 barber shops, 7 restaurants, a gun shop, 2 service stations, 2 implement dealers, sale barn, full service grocery store, Dollar General, a weekly newspaper, local school system, one private school, fully equipped fire department, ambulance service, funeral home, full service nursing home care, 2 - 24 hour gyms, 2 - retirement centers, 7 churches, 3 bars, realtors, 2 insurance agents, 2 attorneys, cpa firm, 2 meat cutters, 3 - tire and automotive centers, 1 photography studio, library, auto body shop, 4 - veterinarians, 2 - feed mills, seed company, agronomy retail. We are very, very fortunate here. The only thing you cannot buy here...eyeglasses.


You didn't mention EZ-Trail's factory! You did say running gear, but, I'm pretty sure it says right on my grain cart that it was made in Arthur, IL. Excellent cart. It is far superior to my KillBros.
 

GOOD question..!!

Her in Central Ohio they seem to have Billions to waste on "Round-a-bouts"..every where you look..
"Imminent domain" and away go the long-time houses..then, huge lights and a bazillion flowers planted..
WHERE is THAT money coming from..??

Ron.
 
It sure has changed a lot in the last 30 years around here. I've watched a ton of places close down. The list is just about endless. Let me try a few. Motor Wheel, Federal Mogual, Lear, Hitachi Magnetics, Oldsmobile main plant, Oldsmobile plant two, Oldsmobile plant three, Oldsmobile plant five, Fisher Body, Melling Forging, Total Petroleum, Midland Ross, Motorcraft Battery factory, Simplicty, Electrolux (2700 jobs),etc. All the old timers around here worked at all those places and all these small towns had people making a living and most of those places had good wages, great health care plans and a defined pension plan. Not some slap in the face 401k plan. Now all the kids work for about half what their dads did and have really crappy health insurance and the infamous 401k that the pretty much have to fund themselves for 50 years so they can retire for a few years when they're 70 years old.
 
Miller County, MO

Cattle, timber and tourism. I have 3 sawmills within a mile of me. I've also been able to keep my bills paid in the winter just selling firewood. Cattle are booming right now.

Then again, there's a lot of money coming in via meth.
 
State wide, Vermont, I guess tourism, retirement, and government. Hi-tech still has a strong presence, but with IBM threatening to sell out and leave, who knows? The Lake Champlain and Connecticut river valleys still have a lot of agriculture, mix of dairy and new niche stuff. Maple syrup and forestry is still big, especially in the north.

The state has an anti-business reputation, and seems to be intent on increasing that. High taxes, extensive and complicated regulation and permitting.
 
Like Tramway Guy and Brendon Warren, I'm in the Watertown NY area. Here is St Law Co it's prisons, 3 colleges, a couple hospitals, Ft Drum, dairy and welfare. The mines are closed, GM and Reynolds Aluminum are gone, Alcoa is slowly closing up shop, tourism is dead, logging is gone. Sad part is this is booming compared to where I came from!
 
Pretty much what Bret said, since we are only about 40 miles apart. The farmers are doing okay at the moment and that helps fuel the enocnomy. More logging here than in the Governuer area, but just like farming it's up and down, mostly down. Fort Drum and prison guard jobs prop up the non-farm economy. If they ever shut down Fort Drum our economy instantly resembles Death Valley.
 
Eight nuclear reactors, the power transmission line company and the nuclear waste site.
Makes for a local economic bubble.
The lake shore and bays are lined with cottages , summer communities and golf courses.
There is a salt mine within an hour and used to be the Champion/Volvo road grader manufacturing plant. Some sub contractors building automotive parts. Large dairy, chicken, egg and turkey farms with quota are the dominant agriculture income. Cash crop , pork and beef producers. The usual government support services . Small shops , stores and businesses although many folk travel 2hrs one way to shop at Costco. The Amish and Menonite have all manner of wood working, some metal working, construction, concrete work etc . They usually have a farm hardware store that carries parts that TSC no longer stocks.
 
BRADFORD Co, Pa
At one time, this county was competing nationally for top Dairy production. Still might be top income for the county. Small farms are retiring out and being incorporated into larger farms.
Marcellus Shale gas production is enabling farms to keep on.
Might be second income getter along with related industries.
Cuud, Cameron, Chesepeake, and many other related industries have built their northern HQ's here.
BradCo could be the sweet spot for Marcellus. Don't let them frac, NY, we'll take it!
Still have some mills and factories to utilize logging products. Some manufacturing and tourism.
 
Howdy neighbor. Unfortunately, there is much truth to your last sentence. My son worked at Jefferson Concrete for several years and he was constantly amazed at how he could name about any household chemical and virtually everyonre who worked there knew how to turn it into a hallucinagenic of some kind.
 
Aberdeen Proving Ground puts a lot of money into the economy here in ne MD. They employ a lot of people and the retirees still live here. For years soldiers were sent here for schooling. Hal
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In Mankato, Minnesota and surrounding area, corn and soybeans and the processing of them is biggest economic driver. Believe it or not, but education is big too. There are 7 or 8 institutions of post secondary education that have a big impact. The Glen Taylor companies are big. Some precision engineering and quite a lot of smaller manufacturing, along with plenty of construction and sand, gravel mining and processing. Drove by a well-known company that is expanding- they had a big sign on the building along the highway- now hiring, apply within.
 
Northern Neck of VA

-Farming, corn, soy beans, wheat/barley and truck farming for Richmond and Wash. D.C. area
-Private special ops training company
-Trailer manufacturing and lumber industry
-Area was once known for crabs and oysters from the rivers and Chesapeake Bay but that is fading fast due to pollution. But oyster farming is doing well and expanding
-the military installation at Dahlgren which develops and test all naval weapons. Can be a noisy neighbor
Weekenders from D.C and Richmond area for second homes, retirees from same areas and tourism, birthplace of two presidents and the Lee family
 
Here people would say AG and tourism. The AG part is a lie. It really employs very few people. Our county has a couple of equipment dealers that's about 100-150 people total. A few elevators and AG related businesses. Maybe another 500 total. That's out of a total of about 57,000 people. Add in the actual farmers and their employees you got maybe 2500 people making a living from AG. So the other it tourism. "Heart of the Lakes" is what they call the area and when they are here the counties population jumps to well over 100,000. Most of these people are setting pretty good and they spend a lot of money here. Most of the jobs supporting tourism don't pay well and some are seasonal work. The county seat has a Wal Mart, Target and Home Depot. Again not great jobs. We do have an ethanol plants that is struggling. I guess right now at current corn prices it's doing OK but if prices spike again I don't think it will last. It employs less than 100 people.

Rick
 

Yep, like the state tourism ads on TV a few years back said: 'TEXAS - It's a whole other country!'

[color=red:b2861de019]LONG[/color:b2861de019] LIVE [color=blue:b2861de019]TEXAS![/color:b2861de019] :D
 
In southern DE, I'd say probably tourism (the beach) and chickens (still the largest broiler county in the nation) are probably two major ones.

I should note the chickens aren't so much the farms (though that helps) but the broader impact--the processing plants, the feed mills, the higher grain prices keeping crop farms more profitable, etc.

The economy is certainly larger than those two, but remove either one and the economy would greatly suffer (though, interestingly, neither is dependent on the other and their interests are often at odds with each other).
 
Ag was our biggest here and probably still is, go west a couple hundred miles toward the other end of the state and its all oil. There is some industry around though, Simplot processes potato's into fries, American Crystal processes sugar beets, an air base, Amazon has a call center, a wind mill blade manufacturing plant, colleges, hospitals and all the other small businesses that are needed to keep everyone going.

Some may argue ag doesn't have a effect on the economy around here much any more, but you throw in a couple bad years for the farmers and the small local business owners will tell you they feel it.
 
Normally you wouldn't think of industry in the small rural communities like our's here in central Kansas, but if you check the employment figures you find that it is government in one form or another that is the largest employer in many county seat small towns. Usually high on the list is the hospital/medical center and if you rank all tax supported agencies together; i.e., post office, court house, city and county offices, etc., they are the largest employers. Granted, we have some things going like a new JD dealership, a giant wind farm, a salt mine, a gas pumping plant that also produces some gas products, a new farm equipment manufacturing plant (Great Plains) and of course the farm grain handling facilities (elevators). No big manufacturing plants or military facilities. Oh ya, forgot the state prison.
 
In our area in central MN it is definitely agriculture. Even most of our small businesses feed off of the ag industry. My transmission work is driven by independant farmers, co-op vehicles, BTO vehicles. I would say guessing 75% of the cars and trucks I work on are in some way tied to agriculture.

Other contributors are in fabrication/welding, the school district is our biggest employer, and we have a couple big woodworking companies that employ a lot of people. One makes baseball bats, the other makes doors and trim. Then there is the rest of the small businesses that are typical of a small town area.
 
Used to run out across the bay bridge/tunnel to pick up produce. Always liked the trip. Other than Norfolk at the south end and Wilmington at the north end.
 
Agriculture to some extent in my immediate area but Columbus powers Fairfield County, most people work there or near there from the area (those that work, that is). Look at the traffic on Rt. 33 and I-70 to get a feel for how many people commute to Columbus each day. In Lancaster (the county seat) it's Anchor Hocking, the schools and city/county government and retail and service business.
 

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