Economy
Inexpensive land prices (compared to Los Angeles and Orange Counties), a large supply of vacant land, and a transport network where many highways and railroads intersect have made the Inland Empire a major shipping hub. Some of the nation's largest manufacturing companies have chosen the Inland Empire for their distribution facilities including Toyota Motor Corporation's North American Parts and Logistics Distribution (NAPLD) center in Ontario and APL Logistics in Rancho Cucamonga. Whirlpool Corporation recently leased a 1,700,000-square-foot (160,000 m2) distribution center in Perris that is larger than 31 football fields and one of the biggest warehouses in the country. These centers operate as part of the system that transports finished goods and materials from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to destinations to the north and east such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Denver. More than 80% percent of the state's imported cargo is shipped through the Los Angeles/Inland Empire Corridor. However, with the global economic downturn, industrial vacancies have doubled from 6.2% in 2007 to 12.4% to 2008. In San Bernardino and Redlands, vacancies are as high as 22%.
Although the region's large industries have been affected by the late-2000s recession, the Inland Empire is projected to remain California's fastest-growing region for some time to come. The area is also projected to remain one of the least educated areas of the state with the lowest average in annual wages in the country. A 2006 study of salaries in 51 metropolitan areas of the country ranked the Inland Empire second to last, with an average annual wage of $36,924. However, inexpensive land prices and innovative institutional support networks have attracted some small businesses and technology startups into the area.
While urbanization continues to cut into agricultural lands, the Inland Empire still produces substantial crops. Although 10,000 acres (40 km2) of irrigated land was lost between 2002 and 2004, agriculture still brought in more than $1.6 billion in revenues to the two-county region in 2006.
Being a MSA, aggregate GDP figures are reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis annually. 2010 GDP was $109.8 billion, roughly a third of San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA despite their close population numbers. Due to housing crisis, the GDP fell from $114.8 billion in 2007, despite a heavy influx of residents. Per capita GDP was $25,970 in 2010.
The unemployment rate in the Inland Empire has been consistently over the national average since 2007. 12.6 percent of Inland residents were unemployed as of June 2012, compared to the national rate of 8.3 percent. Due to the high unemployment and housing foreclosure rates, a higher percentage of Inland residents rely on public assistance. According to the Press-Enterprise, "twelve percent of Riverside County and 17 percent of San Bernardino County residents used food stamps in January 2012," as compared to "11 percent of those living in Los Angeles County, 8 percent of San Diego County residents and 7 percent of Orange County residents."
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