Warren County is also on an upward climb economically.  A few examples:

• Warren County laborshed base has increased by 28 percent since 2003 (324,000 total individuals).
• Warren County's employment base has increased by 13 percent since 2003, more than Iowa or U.S.
• Warren County's unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in 2013, the lowest level since 2008.
• Indianola's cost-of-living is only 89 percent of the national cost-of-living average.
• Warren County's population grew by 13 percent between 2003 and 2013, more than Iowa or U.S.
• Warren County's top twenty recent business expansions have created or will create by the end of 2014 a total 638 new jobs and 944 jobs overall.
• WCEDC is working to complete projects which total 260 new jobs and $14 million in new capital investment.

The remainder of 2014 will no doubt be exciting as some of Warren County's biggest expansion announcements over the last several years come to fruition.

 Warren County was visited by tens of thousands of visitors over the past few weeks.  The Warren County Fair, Des Moines Metro Opera, Central Iowa Home Show, and National Balloon Classic brought in a total of nearly 100,000 people combined.  These events are a great opportunity to showcase Warren County's connectivity to the Des Moines Metro and also to rural Iowa.  Few counties possess such connectivity to both rural and urban as Warren County.  WCEDC was proud to promote these events.  

"WCEDC is the leader for economic and community development within Warren County" said Theresa Greenfield of Colby Interests and WCEDC board member.  "Colby Interests believes Warren County is a best kept secret of the region with a strong workforce, beautiful communities and excellent schools. We invest in the GroWARRENow initiative because WCEDC brings together regional business and community stakeholders to support new businesses, business expansions and job creation."

Commercial property owners in Carlisle are offering five thousand dollars as a reward to any person who refers a new business to Carlisle that ultimately builds on participating land. The participating land owners have commercial properties available in two new business parks located at the Highway 5/65 Bypass on the west side of Carlisle. 

Scotch Ridge Business Park sits on the north side of Highway 5 with sixty-two acres available and Gateway Business Park is located on the south side of Highway 5 with thirty-one acres available. The bounty initiative is in conjunction with ongoing efforts by the City of Carlisle and Warren County Economic Development Corporation to attract new high quality businesses to Carlisle.