(Photo courtesy of EDCO)
Prineville/Crook County Economic Development through Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)’s mission is to help move, start, and grow traded-sector businesses to purposefully create a balanced and diverse economy both locally and region-wide. EDCO supports Central Oregon businesses in countless ways, including, but not limited to: advocating for state and local policies that promote economic growth; administering state incentive programs designed to help local businesses; accessing federal and state funds that aid in implementation of major infrastructure improvements, economic resiliency and community development efforts; identifying new local economic opportunities and retaining existing business wealth; collecting and disseminating data on industry trends, workforce development, and business financing; working to further develop commercial air service in partnership with Redmond Municipal Airport (RDM) and local tourism/DMOs; catalyzing a network of innovation and entrepreneurial support; and encouraging other table-setting opportunities to further improve the business operating environment at the state and local levels.
Between 2020 and 2022, Crook County experienced the greatest cumulative population increase in the entire state of Oregon. The county also boasts one of the fastest growing job markets in the state, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Deschutes County saw the highest number of new residents between 2020 and 2022 with 8,293 new people, or 4.2 percent growth, which put the county’s population at 206,549 people. Jefferson County saw a 3.4 percent increase in the same period, and Crook County saw a 6.6 percent increase, the greatest cumulative rate in the tri-county area.
Since early 2020, Crook County has added over 825 jobs, with nearly 200 of those added last year. Most of these jobs are in the information, private education, health services, business services, and manufacturing sectors, according to the employment department’s press release. Crook County has seen a significant increase in employment over the past five years, with nearly 16 percent more residents employed in 2021 than in 2016. Unlike comparison geographies, including Deschutes, Jefferson, Oregon, the United States, and similar rural areas nationwide, employment in Crook County was minimally impacted by the pandemic. The 2021 GDP per worker in chained dollars in Crook County was $84,278, which exceeds those same comparators, and neighboring MSA, Deschutes County. A homegrown tech sector likely contributed to gains in this metric, increasing both personal wealth and broader economic output in the region. Over half of Crook County’s workforce is employed in the tradable goods sector, with 21 percent of workers employed in manufacturing. Retail trade, construction, transportation and warehousing, and health care/social assistance round out the top five industries. In contrast, 11.2 percent of residents are employed in tradable services such as banking and financial services, consulting and tech. Proprietors account for over one-third of workers in Crook County, with nearly 15 percent more individuals identified as self-employed in 2021 than in 2016. Additionally, 12.3 percent of workers in Crook County work in young firms (companies less than five years old).
According to a 2022 report by Heartland Forward, Prineville, Oregon has been named one of the “Top 10 Dynamic Micropolitans in the United States.” A “micropolitan” area is a community with an economic hub/central city of 10,000 to 50,000, and Prineville was ranked number nine of the 543 statistical Micropolitan areas nationwide. The report analyzed changes in key economic conditions from 2015 through 2020 and ranked micropolitan areas across the country. Prineville was ranked first for short-term average pay growth and second overall in short-term employment growth. The report suggests that micropolitans with outdoor recreation and some form of manufacturing fared better economically than others through the pandemic. The factors considered in the ranking include short-term average pay growth, short-term employment growth, young firm share of total employment, young firm knowledge intensiveness, and per capita income.
The Redfin median home price for Prineville was at $399,900 as of April 2023, a slight decrease from the $402,000 median home price last year. Portland homebuyers searched to move into Prineville more than any other metro followed by Seattle, Washington; San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; and as far as Madison, Wisconsin; Washington, DC; and Nashville, Tennessee.
Our Top 25 Crook County Employers, based on employment numbers, totaled 3,829 employees for 2023, across diverse industries and occupations. According to the Oregon Employment Department, Crook County saw the highest annual average wage growth in the state between 2021 and 2022, with a 31 percent increase. In addition to the significant growth through 2022, Crook County also experienced the highest wage growth over the past ten years (2012-2022) at 43 percent, and post-Great Recession to present day (2008-2022) at 51 percent. Crook County now has the third highest annual average wage in Oregon, up from #6 in 2022, behind Washington and Multnomah Counties. The 2022 annual average wage for Crook County was $70,221. Deschutes County was #7 with an annual average wage of $60,430 for 2022 and Jefferson was #18 with $50,741.
Some Crook County economic highlights from the past year include:
- Prineville/Crook County Economic Development assisted with two new company projects and one local company expanding their operations for a total of three projects, creating 21 new jobs locally and bringing in an estimated $1,393,000 in capital investment. In addition to those three projects coming to fruition, there are currently 32 pending projects in the pipeline.
- The City of Prineville and Crook County co-sponsored the renewal of the local Crook County Enterprise Zone, the most widely used business development incentive in Oregon, for the next ten years. The program allows property tax exemptions in designated areas for up to five years in Urban areas and up to 15 years in Rural areas, in exchange for capital investment, job creation, and employee compensation requirements, in some cases. The current zone was set to expire on June 30, 2023, and will now renew on July 1, 2023, for the new term. Since the Crook County Enterprise Zone’s initiation in 2012, 32 projects have utilized the program, which created 774 local jobs, and spurred $7.18 billion in capital investment. There are currently 76 enterprise zones across Oregon — 58 in rural areas and 18 in urban areas.
- In March, Prineville received funding from Meta to partner with the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) to analyze our entrepreneurial ecosystem and tech talent development opportunities, through a technical assistance process, including assessment, strategic planning, and funding recommended findings. CORI is a national nonprofit committed to advancing economic prosperity in rural America through the creation of inclusive tech economy ecosystems that support scalable entrepreneurship and tech job growth. The organization provides strategic support to rural communities that want to develop inclusive, vibrant digital economies. Other CORI projects across the country have included development or support of incubator spaces, coworking facilities, career hubs, makerspaces, student programs, digital skills training for rural workforces, and mixed-used entrepreneurial/training hybrids. Each community has a tailored approach based on the existing infrastructure and perceived gaps based on the industry diversification post-wood products era.
- Top Gun Resources is a new traded-sector business to Crook County, but not to Central Oregon. Top Gun Resources is an Emergency Management Resource company that has been supporting government agencies in disaster resiliency efforts since 2015, and their work has helped provide resources throughout the pandemic, various hurricanes and natural disasters. Presently their focus is on wildland firefighting needs. The company is currently building a new facility in Prineville’s Tom McCall Industrial Park, which will serve as a central location for many of their operations nationwide. Construction is expected to be completed in August 2023, and the company is excited to become part of the Prineville Business Community. Top Gun Resources’ mission is to provide support to government agencies during emergencies, and they have been doing so successfully for several years.
- EDCO Prineville’s newest events are the Quarterly Member Mixers. This event is aimed at gathering current members and reaching new members to learn more about EDCO’ Prineville’s work and partner organizations that impact economic and community development locally. These are hosted quarterly at various local businesses, offering a casual setting to network with other business leaders and stakeholders and spotlighting different topics each quarter, such as commercial real estate trends, Crook County School District’s CTE programs and associated career pathways, and City of Prineville housing and infrastructure projects. Our next Mixer will be Thursday, September 14 at Thompson Pump & Irrigation’s new Powell Butte location, featuring an update on the Redmond Municipal Airport (RDM)’s recent commercial air service efforts and details on the upcoming $200M airport expansion, from Airport Manager Zach Bass.
EDCO is a nonprofit public-private economic development organization that receives funding from members and community partners, such as the City and County, as well as private industry, so that we can create a thriving business ecosystem that benefits everyone in the Crook County and Central Oregon communities. There is a separate program and budget dedicated to each Central Oregon community, but valuable regional collaboration to share knowledge and business resources. This work creates family wage jobs for Central Oregonians and increases the local tax base to support the growing number of people currently living here and those moving here. With EDCO’s efforts, the region can grow by design, not by default.
