Strategic Spartanburg

Cost of Living
This indicator compares total costs between urban areas with component data on groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods.  Based on a index of 100 as the average (e.g. 125 would indicate an urban area was 25% more expensive than average) the indicator shows the average cost of all goods and services required for a reasonable standard of living by a typical consumer.  Every quarter ACCRA (formerly known as the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association) compiles and publishes its ACCRA Cost of Living Indes, a comparison of the cost of living in more than 300 cities and areas across the country.  Participating agencies such as chambers of commerce collect prices on nearly 60 different products and services.  In an effort to control random error in the analysis of the data, agencies are expected to collect the same data at the same time for every quarter during the year.

Job Creation
This indicator shows the trend in the number of jobs created annually in Spartanburg County.

Unemployment Rates
This indicator shows the total number of unemployed residents in Spartanburg County, South Carolina and the United States divided by their respective total labor forces.  The average annual employment rate for 2004 was 6.5% for South Carolina and 7.4% for Spartanburg County, compared to 5.6% nationally.

Employment by Sector
This indicator depicts the percentage of individuals employed in each major business sector as determined by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Wages by Sector
This indicator shows the percentage of total wages among the major industry sectors of Spartanburg County.  During the first quarter of 2004, the average weekly wage in the Finance sector was $703.  Transportation  was $608; Trade was $519; Government was $651; Service was $512; Manufacturing was $840; and Construction was $591.