The Yuma Region is a natural magnet for business. Yuma County provides the geographically advantageous benefits of immediate access to both the California and Mexico markets. The State of California economy ranks 8th ($2.9 trillion) among all countries in Gross Domestic Product while Mexico’s economy ranks 15th ($1.3 trillion). The combined ranking of the two economies would be 5th among all nations ($4.2 trillion). Yuma County provides the perfect vantage point from which to serve these markets while capitalizing on Yuma County’s low cost of doing business and reasonable regulatory environment. In fact, Local elected leaders have created 4FrontED, a regional organize designed to facilitate regional economic development and job creation in the United States and Mexico.

Yuma County has identified the following core industries for which it can offer qualifying businesses certain incentives. These priorities are taken from the County Investing in Manufacturing Communities Plan and from the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation prioritized list of core industries.

  1. Advanced Manufacturing
  2. Food Processing
  3. Aerospace/Spaceport
  4. Logistics

Key regional industry and economic assets include the following:

  • Agriculture: Produces nearly $3.4B in products annually, 90% of the U.S. supply of winter vegetables, and features the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture
  • MCAS-Yuma:Functions as the U.S. Marine Corps’ premier aviation training facility and represents $654M in economic activity annually.
  • Yuma Proving Ground: Functions as the Army’s most versatile weapons testing facility, including small weapons, tanks, helicopters, and artillery, represents $1.12B in economic activity.
  • Tourism: The winter months see the Yuma County population grow by over 76,000 as the winter visitors make their annual trek to Yuma and contribute $452M in economic activity.
  • Manufacturing: The region’s manufacturing sector features Fortune 500 companies such as Johnson Controls, Shaw Carpets, Associated Materials, and International paper and is expanding into agricultural food product production and aerospace systems.
  • Opportunity Zones: The region boasts 8 Opportunity Zones representing a variety of investment and development opportunities.

Key regional development indicators include:

  • Yuma County’s population has grown nearly 15% since 2010, and employment growth over the same time period was nearly 6%.
  • Between 2014 and 2017, the Yuma area experienced job growth of 3.5% for a net gain of nearly 3,100 new jobs.
  • Yuma is the largest and fastest growing Arizona city outside of the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.