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Team NEO looks at cost of business
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Businesses looking to do business in Northeast Ohio would pay almost 10 percent less in costs compared with the U.S. national average.
In its latest quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review, Team NEO looked at the cost of doing business including labor, energy, state and local taxes in this area compared with others.
Team NEO, an economic development organization focused on creating jobs in Northeast Ohio’s 18-county region, used data from Moody’s Analytics for its report released today.
While all factors are important to businesses, the three most important factors in selecting a location are proximity to customers, proximity to suppliers, and the talent pool in the area.
The report looked at wages in the Northeast Ohio where the median wage is $19.55 per hour, which is the lowest out of the other areas the report looked at including Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
Specifically, the Youngstown-Warren area’s median wage is $14.73 per hour, according to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
The report also notes the cost of living here is 11.4 percent below the national average.
Northeast Ohio’s cost for industrial property is $3.90 per square foot, which is 33 percent lower than the national average of $5.83.
The region falls third in Team NEO’s report for lowest industrial property costs after Columbus and Cincinnati.
Construction costs in Northeast Ohio fall behind Atlanta, Cleveland and Columbus in the report. The cost to build in the region is 2 percent lower than the national average.
“We have a very cost- competitive environment for doing business,” said Jacob Duritsky, vice president of strategy and research for Team NEO.
Development activity highlighted in the report includes investment in the Mahoning Valley.
Columbiana-based Envelope 1 will open a new facility at a previously vacant building on McClurg Road in Boardman.
The business housed there, E1 Digital Direct, is a print and mail service business that works closely with the U.S. Postal Service, according to the report. The facility is a processing center and the firm’s headquarters. The project creates 176 new jobs and resulted in a fixed asset investment of $4.9 million.
The report can be found at www.teamneo.org.