Ask a site selector to picture the Illinois side of St. Louis, and too many still see flat farmland and a hard place to do business on the wrong bank of the Mississippi River. However, the numbers tell a different story. Southwest Illinois has become one of the Midwest’s fastest-accelerating hubs for research, advanced manufacturing, and defense-driven industry.
Research and development employment is growing 9.5% year over year. Scientific and technical consulting is close behind at 7.5%. The advanced manufacturing workforce has expanded to more than 56,000 skilled workers, and global manufacturers are following that talent into the region. Layer on a multimodal freight network with few peers in the country, the talent engine of Scott Air Force Base, and a cost base that consistently surprises executives, and the case becomes clear. Download the white paper to unveil why Metro East is not a Plan B to Missouri and a top-tier economic destination in its own right.
