Main Street Iowa offers a snapshot of Franklin County's economic environment

Main Street Iowa has provided the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce with a market snapshot report, detailing a range of economic and demographic statistics for the area.

By examining the community's economic strengths and weaknesses, this information can be used to help determine which businesses should consider expanding and where there might be room for a new business to enter the market.

One of the most important statistics provided by the report is the sales gap factor, which shows whether the market is being sufficiently served in the community. A negative value in a category indicates that a particular need isn't being met while a surplus could identify businesses that could consider expanding into other areas.

The highest surplus in the area comes from the building materials, gardens, and supply category, followed by health and personal care stores along with gasoline stations. These industries could benefit from expansion or diversifying into niche markets.

"We have opportunity within some of our surplus factors such as building materials and health and personal care," said Chamber Director Newton Grotzinger.

But while the area has a surplus in availability in some areas, others are noticeably lacking. Furniture, electronics, appliances, sporting goods, and hobby shops are dramatically underrepresented, forcing those seeking these products to shop outside of the area. The study also indicates room for additional food stores and services, vehicle parts, clothing, and general merchandise.

In total, the area sees roughly $15.8 million in leakage from retail trade and food and drink services.

The study also includes a range of demographic data for the area.

The Hampton area, which includes everywhere with in a ten minute drive, has 1,949 households with a median household income of $48,139.

With 2,192 estimated housing units in 2020, 63.7% are owner occupied with 25% occupied by renters and 11.1% vacant.

In an encouraging statistic, the daytime population of Hampton exceeds its residential population. The estimate of the Hampton area's population is 4,946 people, but the number of people in the area during the day sits at 5,316.

"That means people come here to work instead of leaving here to work," said Grotzinger.

The median age of the Hampton area resident is 40.5 with a per capita income of $22,839. Out of an estimated 2,344 people above the age of 16, 90.9% are employed. 44.5% of the area holds white collar jobs, 38.8% have blue collar jobs, and 16.9% work in the service industry.

Having this kind of information will help the chamber of commerce as they continue their own work to advance economic development in the area.

"This gives us ideas of what we can do to help," said Grotzinger.