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Sonoma County Indicators

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Economy

Sonoma County’s economy proves to be vibrant relative to its Bay Area and regional counterparts. Unemployment rates are one percentage point below national averages and more than two percentage points below the state average. This is in part due to the additional 1,900 business locations and more than 62,000 jobs added to the region. Following the pandemic, Health Care and Social Assistance has experienced the largest growth than any other industry in Sonoma County.

Graph illustrating the unemployment rate for 9 bay area counties with Marin being the lowest at around 4.5% and Monterey being the highest at around 8% unemployment. Sonoma County’s unemployment rate for 2021 was 5.5%. Source: California Economic Development Department www.edd.ca.gov Graph illustrating the population below the poverty line. Marin is ranked at the left of the graph representing the smallest percentage of population being below the poverty line sitting at about 6% while Monterey has the largest percentage of their population living below the poverty line at around 15%. Sonoma County has seen a drop from 13.1% in 2010 to 7.8% in 2020. Source: U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov
Graph illustrating GRP by county. Sonoma County’s GRP in 2020 was $31.3 billion. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis www.bea.gov Graph illustrating GRP by industry in Sonoma County. Manufacturing comprises 15.4% of the county’s total GRP with $5.6B, followed by Healthcare & Social Assistance (11.1%) with $3.4B, Government (9.5%) with $3.0B, Construction (7%) with $2.3B, and Retail Trade (7%) with $2.3B. Source: Lightcast economicmodeling.com
Graph illustrating the value of exports in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma counties. Export values for 2020 were $1.13 billion for Sonoma County, $.4 billion in Marin County, and $.3 billion in Napa County. Source: U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov Graph illustrating household median earnings by gender, race, and ethnicity. Household median earnings in Sonoma County are highest for White men, with $52,989, followed by Black men ($44,958), and Asian men ($38,927). Black women earn $31,380 less than White men, or 40% of a White man’s dollar. Source: A Portrait of Sonoma County: 2021 Update (measureofamerica.org/sonoma
Graph illustrating the household median income by county. As of 2021, Sonoma County’s median household income was $84,978. The only Bay Area county that had a lower median household income was Monterey ($77,453). The other Bay Area counties are ranked as follows; Napa ($91,451), Santa Cruz ($88,030), Contra Costa ($108,209), Alameda ($105,545), Marin ($108,240), and Santa Clara ($131,856). Source: ESRI www.bao.arcgis.com Graph illustrating the number of non-employer establishments there are for everyone pay-rolled business location. Sonoma County (2.3:1) ranks higher than the state (2.2:1) for non-employer establishments to pay-rolled business locations, but lower than the nation (2.65:1). Marin (3.07:1), ranking higher than all of the listed geographies, has a fewer number of non-employer establishments than Sonoma county, 38,207 and 46,153 respectively. Source: U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov