Economics — localized baseline
What Shelby County, Ohio's economy actually is, quantitatively — the ground the data-center deal sits
on. Employment by industry for 2023 (BLS QCEW) with each sector's
location quotient (county share ÷ national share), and population (US Census
ACS). The employment and population figures are connector-sourced [verified], with each
sector's location quotient derived from them; the prose companion is
Economics — demand & public benefits.
Population
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 49,350 |
| 2015 | 49,067 |
| 2020 | 48,610 |
| 2023 | 48,007 |
Employment trend
| Year | Total covered employment |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 27,427 |
| 2023 | 27,149 |
Total covered employment shrank 1.0% (27,427 → 27,149) between 2018 and 2023 — the labor base the campus's ~50 promised jobs join.
Industry mix & export-orientation
Employment by NAICS sector, 2023, ranked by jobs.
| Sector | Jobs | Establishments | Avg annual pay | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31-33 · Manufacturing | 12,612 | 125 | — | 5.53 · exports |
| 44-45 · Retail Trade | 1,923 | 129 | — | 0.70 · imports |
| 62 · Health Care & Social Assistance | 1,798 | 93 | — | 0.48 · imports |
| 23 · Construction | 1,543 | 115 | — | 1.09 |
| 72 · Accommodation & Food Services | 1,458 | 86 | — | 0.59 · imports |
| 42 · Wholesale Trade | 1,283 | 64 | — | 1.19 |
| 56 · Administrative & Support & Waste Management | 1,246 | 59 | — | 0.75 · imports |
| 81 · Other Services (except Public Administration) | 690 | 81 | — | 0.85 · imports |
| 54 · Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | 388 | 60 | — | 0.20 · imports |
| 52 · Finance & Insurance | 258 | 57 | — | 0.23 · imports |
| 11 · Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting | 175 | 22 | — | 0.79 · imports |
| 61 · Educational Services | 150 | 6 | — | 0.27 · imports |
| 53 · Real Estate & Rental & Leasing | 132 | 33 | — | 0.31 · imports |
| 71 · Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 109 | 13 | — | 0.25 · imports |
| 51 · Information | 73 | 14 | — | 0.14 · imports |
| 55 · Management of Companies & Enterprises | 16 | 4 | — | 0.04 · imports |
| 22 · Utilities | 0 | 2 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 48-49 · Transportation & Warehousing | 0 | 54 | — | 0.00 · imports |
Government employment — outside the private sector mix
The industry table above is private-ownership employment (BLS QCEW). Federal, state and local government carry no NAICS sector of their own, so they appear in no row above — yet the county total counts them. Federal civilian employment alone is 66 jobs at $64,766 average pay; at a federal enclave it is the county's single largest employer with no page of its own.
| Ownership | Jobs | Establishments | Avg annual pay | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Government | 66 | 14 | $64,766 | 0.13 · imports |
| State Government | 182 | 7 | $79,041 | 0.22 · imports |
| Local Government | 1,987 | 85 | $50,152 | 0.79 · imports |
Private sectors (23,854) + government (2,235) reconcile to the 27,149 all-ownership total — the 1,060-job residual is unclassified or suppressed private employment.
Consumer energy costs
What households in Ohio pay for electricity and heating fuel — the
consumer-price half of the demand thread the data-center load presses on. State-level EIA
residential prices and retail sales, each connector-sourced [verified], charted over
the last ~quarter-century (the natural-gas series reaches back to 1967, but the window is
trimmed for legibility). Prices are in native units — electricity in cents/kWh, gas in $/Mcf,
sales in million kWh.