Like many cities with strong industrial roots, Saint Paul, Minnesota, recognizes the value of protecting its industrial zones and ensuring a future of diverse land use. Light industrial businesses, which include breweries, body shops, and small manufacturers, are vital parts of local business ecosystems and are known to provide high-paying jobs that do not require postsecondary education. While there is value in low barrier-to-entry jobs and the goods and services these businesses offer, negative public perceptions of industrial land use and real estate pressures to convert these properties to residential or retail space often leave the light industry in peril. From 2022 through 2024, ICIC conducted research sponsored by the Saint Paul Port Authority to demonstrate the ongoing importance of light industrial businesses to the city’s economy. We employed a diverse set of methods to investigate many facets of the Saint Paul industrial economy, including the fiscal and private economic impacts of different kinds of businesses and land uses, the employment and wages of industrial and non-industrial sectors, and the spatial concentration of employment by industry. Read More

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Anchor institutions, or large, place-based organizations such as universities and hospitals, have always played significant economic roles in their communities. Read More

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