HOW SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY BECAME THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

If you want to know why so many high-growth companies and the talented people they employ are moving to San Bernardino County in the Inland Empire of Southern California, the answer can be summed up in one word: opportunity

Some 2,215,776 million people already call this place home. They live in one of 24 cities that include places like Ontario, San Bernardino, Redlands, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Chino, Chino Hills, Apple Valley, Adelanto, Hesperia and Victorville. They are close enough to work in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, but increasingly, they are electing to work closer to home in a county that produces 965,700 jobs.

When I asked Derek Armstrong, director of economic development for San Bernardino County, what makes his home county so popular, he said: “Our number one goal is to establish a business-friendly environment and be a model for the state and region. We will be responsive to businesses and help them through planning, permitting and finding workers. We will support our existing industries, and we will develop future leaders who can guide economic development at the county and city level.”

There is ample evidence that the county’s strategy is working. Since 2018, county GDP has grown 43.3% and outpaced the state. While other locations in California saw their economies contract during the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy in San Bernardino County continued to grow. Showing major gains in transportation and health care jobs, the Inland Empire ranked fifth out of 250 metro areas nationwide in job growth.

These gains are paying huge dividends for the people who live there. Since 2013, median household income in the county has grown 38.6% to $77,423 per year. In Chino Hills, the median household income is $124,326. In Upland, it is $97,402. In Rancho Cucamonga, it is $108,164; and in Fontana, it is $96,710.

Meanwhile, the county’s labor force increased from 898,455 in 2013 to 1,021,990 in 2023. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, San Bernardino County now accounts for more than 5% of California’s entire workforce.

Through it all, San Bernardino County remains the least expensive housing market in Southern California. While the median home value in Southern California is $767,169, it is just $537,025 in San Bernardino County. That is considerably cheaper than the average house in Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

Built for Long-Term Growth
Armstrong says the county leadership has its sights set on growth. “Brightline West will link us to Los Angeles and Las Vegas and increase visibility for our region,” he says of the new all-electric high-speed rail service from LA to Vegas. “We also have Ontario International Airport, which is one of the 10 fastest-growing airports in the nation.”

Armstrong adds that international employers like the fact that they can recruit talent from a vast and diverse labor shed. “I was talking to a company from Japan yesterday,” he said. “They can recruit workers from the 10 million people who live in Los Angeles County too. Our Workforce Development Board and our Workforce Department have done a tremendous job in setting up recruiting fairs for employers and delivering other resources to them. We also work very well with the higher education institutions in the county.”

Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, executive director of economic development for the City of Ontario, says the city’s population of 185,000 is expected to double over the next 30 years. People are moving to Ontario, she notes, because of numerous quality-of-life investments made by the City Council.

“The city has built the Toyota Arena and the Convention Center,” she says. “Multiple city and private projects are breaking ground now, including the new Ontario Sports Empire, a 190-acre multi-purpose athletic complex that will be anchored by a 6,500-seat professional baseball stadium. It will be home to the Dodger-affiliate, Single-A Team, and will be operational in April 2026.”

According to CBRE Research, the Ontario-Montclair-Upland submarket of Inland Empire West is the largest industrial market in the bi-county Inland Empire Region (which includes Riverside County) with 1,249 buildings totaling 125.9 million sq. ft. of industrial space. Of that, just 6.4% is vacant, according to CBRE’s Third Quarter 2024 Market Report. Through the third quarter of 2024, Ontario showed nearly 4 million sq. ft. of net absorption year-to-date. The average triple-net lease rate was $1.22 PSF.

Hiramoto says that’s not all her city is building. “We are building 1,200 homes per year, and that will nearly double the population at total buildout to nearly 400,000 people. We annexed 8,000 acres 20 years ago, and we are continuing to develop and grow that land.”

Ian Britton, senior managing director of CBRE’s Ontario office, says the county is positioned well for sustainable growth. “We are in a pretty good spot,” he says. “The Inland Empire has a very diverse labor market. So many good employment sectors are here: government services, health care, engineering, transportation and logistics. During the pandemic, when Orange County and LA were very tech-heavy, a lot of employees went home to work and never came back. We never really saw that in the Inland Empire. The result of that is a much healthier office market here.”

With a labor force of 1.09 million workers,
San Bernardino County accounts for more
than 5% of California’s workforce.

Source: San Bernardino County

In fact, the CBRE Q3 Office Market Report for the Inland Empire shows continued positive leasing activity and a compressed vacancy rate. The vacancy rate declined from 8.5% to 8.0% “following another quarter of positive net absorption and a healthy outlook on the Inland Empire office market,” per CBRE.

Strong office performers in the region in 2024 were Redlands with 56,315 sq. ft. of net absorption (the most in the Inland Empire) and Ontario, with 43,403 sq. ft.

Fast Cars Mean Big Business
On the industrial side, Britton says trade through the San Pedro Bay Port Complex will continue to drive industrial growth in San Bernardino County. “The Ports of LA and Long Beach are a huge component of the overall demand for industrial space in the marketplace,” he says. “Over the past several years, you could draw a direct connection between TEUs at the port and industrial absorption in the Inland Empire, mainly because of e-commerce and people expecting products at their doorstep yesterday.”

Two industrial submarkets stand out, Britton adds: Ontario and Fontana. “Ontario has grown quite a bit over the past two years, and we expect that to continue,” he notes. “Fontana is the other. The new Speedway Commerce Center in Fontana is the redevelopment of the old NASCAR speedway there. Hillwood is building that development on the area surrounding the old racetrack. Look for that area to grow.”

Josh Cox, senior vice president for Hillwood, says, “We love the Inland Empire and specifically San Bernardino County. That is what brought Hillwood to Southern California 20 years ago. Redevelopment of Norton Air Force Base brought us to the county. It is now AllianceCalifornia, a 2,000-acre trade and logistics center that has seen 15 million square feet of development, $1 billion in investment and the creation of 12,000-plus jobs.”

A new minor league ballpark will only add to the quality-of-life ambiance of Ontario, say city leaders.
Photo courtesy of City of Ontario

The new Speedway Commerce Center in Fontana, he adds, will only strengthen the county’s status as one of the premier industrial centers in the country. “We are working with NASCAR and CBRE Investment Management on Speedway Commerce Center. That is a 500-acre project in unincorporated San Bernardino County. This is another brownfield redevelopment. It is under construction as we speak and will be LEED Gold certified. This is the old 2-mile racetrack in Fontana. NASCAR is approved to build a new half-mile track in the center of the project. We will develop nine industrial buildings around it.”

Cox says the county’s infrastructure appeals to industrial developers. “Just look at the infrastructure of the county: three airports and six Interstate highways. We are right off the I-15 and the I-10. That is a great advantage for the county. Plus, the county has always supported smart development. When you factor in proximity to the biggest ports in the U.S. and the fact that Southern California has 24 million people, this is a great place to be.”

The county’s crown jewel, he notes, is its workforce. “There is a great workforce here,” he says. “There are great colleges in the region. If you are looking to hire people in engineering roles and management roles, San Bernardino County has the workers you need.”

Armstrong concurs. “Workforce development is one of the great things we do,” he says of the county that perennially wins national awards for its worker training programs. “Other communities struggle to find workers. That is not an issue here. About 53% of our workers leave the county every day to go to jobs in other counties.”

As California companies continue to move inland, more of the workforce will be able to both live and work in San Bernardino County.

Cox sees that day coming soon. “When you talk to the people at the county’s economic development team, you learn that they have Opportunity Zones and other resources to help businesses find a site and expand,” he says. “There are good incentives. Both the county and the utilities go out of their way to help businesses grow. There are a lot of good reasons to be in San Bernardino County.”

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