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Economic Development Board › Data Center › Indicators › Creative
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Sonoma County Indicators

Creative

The Creative Economy is robust and essential to Sonoma County at large. With supportive institutions, such as Creative Sonoma, who awarding almost $320,000 in grants and contracts to 61 grantees, the Sonoma County creative economy continues to thrive. The creative economy is projected to grow by 4% in the next five years.

Graph illustrating the percent of employment within Sonoma County’s creative economy at about 5.1%. In the USA it is about 4.8%. In California it is about 6.8%. Source: Lightcast (lightcast.io). Graph illustrating the percentage of arts and humanities degrees that were awarded out of the total degrees awarded at Sonoma State University. Arts and Humanities accounted for 23% of total degrees awarded. Source: National Center for Education Statistics https://nces.ed.gov/

Graph illustrating the top GRP within creative industries. 45.3% media and publishing, 18.8% design, 9.6% manufacturing and retail, 5.9% advertising, 5.7% audio/visual sound film/photo, 4.1% art services, 6.6% independent artists, 3.3% art organizations, .7% education. Source: Lightcast economicmodling.com

Graph illustrating the creative economy by age. 22% 35-44 years of age, 21.2% 25-34 years of age, 19.9% 45-54 years of age, 18% 55-64 years of age, 12% 65 and up years of age, 7% 14-24 years of age. Source: Lightcast (lightcast.io) Graph illustrating the average total earnings for the creative economy. Mostly a steady increase with the peak in 2021 of $81,075 average total earnings. 2011 and 2012 show lowest points with under $56,250 average total earnings. Source: Lightcast (lightcast.io)

Graph illustrating how many creative economy business locations there are within Sonoma County. From largest amount to smallest are, Design 267, manufacturing and retail 105, media and publishing 96, audio/visual sound film/photo 68, art services 66, independent artists 49, advertising 48, arts organizations 29, education 29. Source: Lightcast (lightcast.io)