Growth in salaries, businesses lead U.S.

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Friday, June 1, 2007 2:40 PM PDT ∞

Businesses in Riverside County have been multiplying at a rate unsurpassed among large U.S. counties, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Corporations and entrepreneurs added 1,829 new locations in the county in 2005, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available, the federal agency stated in its annual County Business Patterns report. That number represented 5.9 percent growth from 2004, a rate equaled only by Orange County, Fla., which includes the city of Orlando.

The bureau's count includes the 50 U.S. counties with the most businesses. The numbers include new businesses and new stores and offices of existing companies. A Carlsbad-based company with a branch office in Murrieta, for example, would count as two locations, one each in San Diego and Riverside counties.

An economist attributed much of the growth in Riverside County to "catching up." The population grew explosively from 2000-05. An especially large number of the new businesses that have sprung up since 2004 serve those new residents, said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy.

Large corporations also eye population growth with the intention of setting up shop when a region's or area's population reaches a certain critical mass, he said. With about 4 million people, the two-county region of Riverside and San Bernardino has been hitting several of those thresholds, and so are areas within the region, he said.

"When you get to a certain stage in population, you get a lot of businesses that locate there that were previously in Los Angeles, Newport Beach or Irvine," Levy said.

And income growth has created markets for several types of businesses that are new to Southwest County, such as specialty gyms, errand services and pricey T-shirt boutiques.

Average annual payroll, a measure of salaries, wages, tips and other compensation received by people who work in Riverside County, grew to $32,140 in 2005 from $28,810 in 2003. That 5.6 percent growth rate was the 10th highest among the 50 large U.S. counties and compared to a rate of 4.8 percent in California as a whole. Pay in San Diego County rose at a 4 percent rate to $40,725.

Andrea Petritz, who runs a meal-preparation business on Murrieta Hot Springs Road, said Southwest County's growing population and rising income have boosted the five such shops that have opened in the last year and a half.

In a typical session at the shops, a customer prepares a half-dozen family size meals, freezes them, and then bakes or reheats them over the course of the next week. The approach appeals to middle-class and wealthier parents who want restaurant-quality meals but are too busy to spend three hours a night cooking, said Petritz, who opened the Super Suppers franchise last year with her husband.

"This is the perfect area for this," Petritz said. "I saw the growth, and the growth that's coming here, and I knew that more was on its way."

With 32,825 business locations in 2005, Riverside ranked 30th among the nation's 3,000-plus counties, according to the Census Bureau.

Still, local salaries have continued to rank dead last among the nation's 50 largest counties, a phenomenon that economists have attributed to Riverside County's large size, vast rural areas and the relatively affordable housing within driving distance of high-paying jobs in coastal urban areas.

The particularly strong salary growth in the county is narrowing that gap considerably, but it still trails 49th-place San Bernardino, where payroll averaged $32,600, and 48th-place Bexar County, Texas, where employees in San Antonio and surrounding areas earned an average $32,850.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.

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