Ohio 2003: A Demographic Profile Population: 11,402,236 Pop. Growth (1990-2002): 5.12 % Households: 4,470,242 Housing Units: 4,797,069 Median Household Size: 2.7 Home Ownership: 65.6% Median Monthly Rent: $413 Median Monthly Mortgage: $645 Median Household Income: $645 Per Capita Income: $25,889 Percent with College Degree: 15.8% Total Work Force: 5,422,922 Total Crime Index (US avg. = 100): 112.0 Annual Avg. Temperature: 50.6°F Annual Spending Per Capita: $16,620 Consumer Price Index: 146.1 EASI Quality of Life Index: 73.0 Source: Development Alliance (www.developmentalliance.com)

In The Middle of Things,
Ohio Lures DC Investment

Ohio's central location offers strategic positioning for regional distribution centers. Two major retailers are building large facilities in the Columbus area.
        Kroger, Ohio's second largest employer with about 25,000 employees, will open a 750,000-sq.-ft. (69,675-sq.-m.) center in June 2003 in Delaware County as its nationwide distribution point for cookies and snacks. The $69-million building will also be a regional hub for the grocery chain's stores in Central and Southern Ohio, Toledo and Northern West Virginia. The project will create 276 jobs and retain 439 as it consolidates smaller operations.
        Headquartered in Cincinnati, Kroger chose its home state for the new facility after looking at sites in Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Target Corp. is building an $84-million regional distribution center in West Jefferson. The facility will create about 900 jobs within three years of its March 2004 opening.

        Target Corp., which has been on a distribution center building spree of late with projects in Kansas, Texas, Virginia and other states, is building a 1.35-million-sq.-ft. (125,415-sq.-m.) facility in the West Jefferson Commerce Park in Madison County near I-70. The $84-million facility, which will be operational by March 2004, will employ 900 at annual average salaries of $28,000 within three years. Target picked Ohio over Pennsylvania for the project.
        Snyder's Drug Stores Inc., a Minnesota-based chain, has invested $26.2 million to re-open an old Phar-Mor distribution center in Austintown, creating 200 jobs.