Report: Celina economy fastest-growing in state

Recent data show Celina has the fastest-growing economy of all Ohio cities, according to an Ohio State University economist.

"Since 2010, Celina is growing 20 times faster than the U.S. non-metro (rural) average in terms of jobs," OSU economist Mark Partridge said.

Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel said this is due to the more than 600 businesses located within a mile of the city. Additionally, those who work here don't want to be just a number, they want to be part of the community.

"People want to know their neighbors and not be a stranger," he said.

People are attracted to work in rural cities such as Celina because they offer a high quality of life in safe communities with a low cost of living, Partridge said.

Young people often leave rural Ohio cities to start their careers in bigger ones, but Partridge and Hazel both said they want to return to start a family.

"They want to raise their kids in a place with values and morals," Hazel said. "There's a lot to be said about communities like this."

Ohio's nonmetropolitan areas with populations of fewer than 50,000 people and beyond commuting distances of major cities experienced a 7.6% job increase between 2010-2018, nearly 10 times the national average, according to Partridge.

During that same period, Ohio's major cities saw slightly higher job growth - a 9.2% increase, he noted.

Columbus and Cincinnati have both seen a significant uptick in jobs, but Partridge said Ohio's other major cities have witnessed their numbers of jobs decreasing, staying the same or only slightly increasing.

The fact that rural and urban job growth are comparable is significant and atypical, he said, as rural areas still closely tied to farming are not attracting new employers.

"Rural America is not just farming," Partridge said. While the landscape around cities and villages such as Celina may look like farms, "people have organized themselves into a much more diversified economy that is often urban created."

Everything people expect to find in larger cities, they can find here, Mercer County Economic Development Director Jarred Ebbing said.

"If you get dependent on one thing, you're in jeopardy," he said. "We are an agriculture community, but we have a wide variety of businesses in manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, professional printing and graphic- design companies, distribution centers, health care, you name it.

"That diversified job base brings new and different people to the area of all ages and skill sets," he said. "That's what you want."

This is evident as a record-setting 5,000-plus jobs were posted online last year, up from the 4,800 posted in 2017, Ebbing noted.

People who choose to work and live in rural Ohio have a sense of entrepreneurship and resilience that has helped cities such as Celina bounce back from the recession, Partridge said.

Ebbing concurred, saying, "we live and die by our strong work ethic and wide range of businesses. Back in the recession, no one was hiring, but since 2002, businesses have been calling me daily to find people. It's been a very steep increase."

St. Marys industrial and community development director Michael Burkholder said job growth has been steady there as well.

"If you drive down McKinley Road, many of our industrial facilities now have hiring signs," he said.

New Bremen is also experiencing record job growth, said the village's economic development director Angela Hamberg.

"Trends indicate we continue to grow," she said. "Employers need to continue recruiting and maintaining their workforce."