The recent announcement of the closure of Chillicothe’s paper mill got GOPC thinking about the role of manufacturing in Ohio legacy cities. Does the closure of such facilities have a significant impact on the local economy or just on local nostalgia? We dug into the numbers and found that manufacturing is indeed still a large share of gross domestic product (GDP) in Ohio communities.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, manufacturing accounts for 15.5% of Ohio’s total GDP. In Ross County, where Chillicothe is located, manufacturing accounts for 18.8% of total GDP. In some counties, that percentage is much higher. Take Coshocton County, where manufacturing contributes 37% of the county’s GDP or Shelby County at nearly 57%. The loss of production facilities is a major hit for these regions.
ODOD’s population projections predict that Ohio’s population will drop by 5.7% by 2050. Rural and legacy communities will take the brunt of this, with some counties projected to lose up to 30% of their population. Central and southwest Ohio are the only areas projected to grow, and in those counties, manufacturing is a smaller share of their total GDP. In Hamilton County (Cincinnati) manufacturing accounts for 13.5% of GDP and in Franklin County (Columbus) manufacturing is only 6.4% of the county’s GDP.
In the 74 counties projected to lose population, manufacturing makes up 18.2% of total GDP. GOPC’s recent white paper, Ohio’s GDP in National Context, discusses the vital role our legacy communities play in Ohio’s GDP production and how the state can best support these places. If Ohio wants to remain a top GDP producer (currently #7 in the country), we cannot forget the cities and counties that generate prosperity.