Economics — localized baseline
What Hancock 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 | 74,670 |
| 2015 | 75,428 |
| 2020 | 75,765 |
| 2023 | 74,885 |
Employment trend
| Year | Total covered employment |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 45,606 |
| 2023 | 44,290 |
Total covered employment shrank 2.9% (45,606 → 44,290) 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 | 10,859 | 107 | — | 2.92 · exports |
| 62 · Health Care & Social Assistance | 5,421 | 181 | — | 0.88 · imports |
| 72 · Accommodation & Food Services | 4,059 | 192 | — | 1.00 |
| 44-45 · Retail Trade | 4,036 | 231 | — | 0.90 · imports |
| 48-49 · Transportation & Warehousing | 3,984 | 80 | — | 2.14 · exports |
| 56 · Administrative & Support & Waste Management | 2,139 | 123 | — | 0.79 · imports |
| 55 · Management of Companies & Enterprises | 1,910 | 23 | — | 2.59 · exports |
| 42 · Wholesale Trade | 1,856 | 114 | — | 1.05 |
| 54 · Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | 1,523 | 172 | — | 0.49 · imports |
| 23 · Construction | 1,419 | 143 | — | 0.62 · imports |
| 81 · Other Services (except Public Administration) | 1,226 | 161 | — | 0.93 · imports |
| 61 · Educational Services | 812 | 16 | — | 0.90 · imports |
| 52 · Finance & Insurance | 658 | 132 | — | 0.36 · imports |
| 53 · Real Estate & Rental & Leasing | 403 | 63 | — | 0.58 · imports |
| 71 · Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 281 | 29 | — | 0.39 · imports |
| 51 · Information | 238 | 29 | — | 0.28 · imports |
| 22 · Utilities | 101 | 5 | — | 0.61 · imports |
| 99 · 99 | 9 | 5 | — | 0.11 · imports |
| 11 · Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting | 0 | 15 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 21 · Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas Extraction | 0 | 2 | — | 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 143 jobs at $69,321 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 | 143 | 15 | $69,321 | 0.17 · imports |
| State Government | 159 | 11 | $78,547 | 0.12 · imports |
| Local Government | 3,000 | 104 | $50,871 | 0.73 · imports |
Private sectors (40,934) + government (3,302) reconcile to the 44,290 all-ownership total — the 54-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.