Charleston, affordable place to do business.
The article posted below from the Charleston Gazette is of no surprise to many of us working in business and economic development in West Virginia. While the article below focuses on the Charleston MSA, a study we focused on in early 2006 from the Milken Institute ranked West Virginia, as a state, as the tenth least expensive state in which to do business when considering the factors of wage cost, taxes, electricity costs, and real estate costs for industrial and office space. To find out more about how to open a business, expand a business, or relocate you business to the Charleston Area, please visit the web site of the Charleston Area Alliance.
From the Charleston Gazette
April 25, 2006
Business study ranks Charleston among least expensive U.S. cities
Charleston ranked as the fourth most inexpensive city for doing business in a national survey of metropolitan areas its size.
The research, carried out by the accounting company KPMG LLP, found that the costs of operating in the Charleston area are 5.5 percent below the national average.
Dothan, Ala., is the most competitive of metropolitan areas with populations between 100,000 and 500,000, with costs coming in 7.5 percent under the rest of the country, according to the research. It is followed by Lexington, Ky., and Lima, Ohio.
Just after Charleston in the rankings is Indianapolis, where costs are 3.5 percent under the average.
Charleston’s labor costs are second-lowest among the cities in the group. Its transportation, electricity and benefits costs are also on the low end, the survey found.
“It’s a very competitive area,” said Hartley Powell, head of KPMG’s Strategic Relocation and Expansion Services practice, a unit that advises businesses on where to locate. “Cost may not be the only factor that companies consider, but it’s always a factor, and you all show up on the radar as a very competitive city.”
Among Charleston-area industries, clinical trials management was found to be the most cost-competitive, with costs averaging more than 11 percent under the national average for costs. Biomedical research and development, electronic systems product testing and back-office services were found to operate about 8.5 percent under the national average for those sectors.
In fact, the costs for every industry sector are lower in the Charleston area than each sector’s national average. The least competitive sector here is telecommunications, where costs are 1.6 percent below the national average for telecom.
The study measures the combined impact of business operating costs like labor, facility, transportation and utilities, as well as income taxes. It tallies those costs after taxes, estimating the starting up and 10 years of operations of companies in 12 industries.
KPMG conducts city cost studies every other year, but this year is the first to have included Charleston.
The article posted below from the Charleston Gazette is of no surprise to many of us working in business and economic development in West Virginia. While the article below focuses on the Charleston MSA, a study we focused on in early 2006 from the Milken Institute ranked West Virginia, as a state, as the tenth least expensive state in which to do business when considering the factors of wage cost, taxes, electricity costs, and real estate costs for industrial and office space. To find out more about how to open a business, expand a business, or relocate you business to the Charleston Area, please visit the web site of the Charleston Area Alliance.
From the Charleston Gazette
April 25, 2006
Business study ranks Charleston among least expensive U.S. cities
Charleston ranked as the fourth most inexpensive city for doing business in a national survey of metropolitan areas its size.
The research, carried out by the accounting company KPMG LLP, found that the costs of operating in the Charleston area are 5.5 percent below the national average.
Dothan, Ala., is the most competitive of metropolitan areas with populations between 100,000 and 500,000, with costs coming in 7.5 percent under the rest of the country, according to the research. It is followed by Lexington, Ky., and Lima, Ohio.
Just after Charleston in the rankings is Indianapolis, where costs are 3.5 percent under the average.
Charleston’s labor costs are second-lowest among the cities in the group. Its transportation, electricity and benefits costs are also on the low end, the survey found.
“It’s a very competitive area,” said Hartley Powell, head of KPMG’s Strategic Relocation and Expansion Services practice, a unit that advises businesses on where to locate. “Cost may not be the only factor that companies consider, but it’s always a factor, and you all show up on the radar as a very competitive city.”
Among Charleston-area industries, clinical trials management was found to be the most cost-competitive, with costs averaging more than 11 percent under the national average for costs. Biomedical research and development, electronic systems product testing and back-office services were found to operate about 8.5 percent under the national average for those sectors.
In fact, the costs for every industry sector are lower in the Charleston area than each sector’s national average. The least competitive sector here is telecommunications, where costs are 1.6 percent below the national average for telecom.
The study measures the combined impact of business operating costs like labor, facility, transportation and utilities, as well as income taxes. It tallies those costs after taxes, estimating the starting up and 10 years of operations of companies in 12 industries.
KPMG conducts city cost studies every other year, but this year is the first to have included Charleston.
posted by Charleston West Virginia Economic Development
@ 9:51 AM
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