Economics — localized baseline
What Champaign 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 | 40,140 |
| 2015 | 39,393 |
| 2020 | 38,861 |
| 2023 | 38,772 |
Employment trend
| Year | Total covered employment |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 10,858 |
| 2023 | 10,471 |
Total covered employment shrank 3.6% (10,858 → 10,471) 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 | 3,639 | 49 | — | 4.14 · exports |
| 44-45 · Retail Trade | 997 | 87 | — | 0.94 · imports |
| 62 · Health Care & Social Assistance | 822 | 66 | — | 0.57 · imports |
| 72 · Accommodation & Food Services | 666 | 55 | — | 0.70 · imports |
| 81 · Other Services (except Public Administration) | 469 | 68 | — | 1.50 · exports |
| 54 · Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | 275 | 50 | — | 0.37 · imports |
| 48-49 · Transportation & Warehousing | 256 | 28 | — | 0.58 · imports |
| 23 · Construction | 239 | 60 | — | 0.44 · imports |
| 52 · Finance & Insurance | 164 | 28 | — | 0.38 · imports |
| 71 · Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 134 | 15 | — | 0.79 · imports |
| 53 · Real Estate & Rental & Leasing | 71 | 30 | — | 0.43 · imports |
| 51 · Information | 36 | 6 | — | 0.18 · imports |
| 61 · Educational Services | 11 | 5 | — | 0.05 · imports |
| 11 · Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting | 0 | 18 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 21 · Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas Extraction | 0 | 2 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 22 · Utilities | 0 | 1 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 42 · Wholesale Trade | 0 | 29 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 55 · Management of Companies & Enterprises | 0 | 2 | — | 0.00 · imports |
| 56 · Administrative & Support & Waste Management | 0 | 36 | — | 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 68 jobs at $56,993 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 | 68 | 12 | $56,993 | 0.34 · imports |
| State Government | 50 | 7 | $63,829 | 0.16 · imports |
| Local Government | 1,853 | 73 | $45,551 | 1.90 · exports |
Private sectors (7,779) + government (1,971) reconcile to the 10,471 all-ownership total — the 721-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.