Economy of Spokane, Washington

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Spokane metropolitan area has a workforce of about 287,000 people (255,000 non-farm) and an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent as of February 2020; the largest sectors for non–farm employment are education and health services, trade, transportation, and utilities, and government.

[1][2] The Coeur d'Alene metropolitan area has a workforce of 80,000 people and an unemployment rate of 6.8% as of June 2020; the largest sectors for non-farm employment are trade, transportation, and utilities, government, and education and health services as well as leisure and hospitality.

After the mining rushes and associated trade ended at the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and logging became the primary influences in the Spokane economy.

The expansion and growth of Spokane abruptly stopped in the 1910s and was followed by a period of population decline due to economic factors such as capital flight, low commodity prices, and loss of industry.

[8] At the onset of the initial 1883 gold rush in the nearby Coeur d'Alene mining district, Spokane became popular with prospectors, offering low prices on everything "from a horse to a frying pan".

Spokane became an important rail and shipping center because of its location between mining and farming areas (namely the Silver Valley and the Palouse).

When it became widely known after a US Geological Survey done in the 1890s that there were large quantities of white pine, a highly prized softwood, in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains, the lumber industry from the eastern US began to inventory the timberlands, acquire land and invest in facilities across much of northern Idaho.

[16] As with the mining industry, lumberjacks and millmen working in the hundreds of mills along the railroads, rivers, and lakes of northern Washington and Idaho were provisioning themselves in Spokane.

[20] The agricultural hinterland of the Inland Northwest was a breadbasket and was able to develop and grow further with the completion of several railroad networks as well as a highway system that began to center around the city, aiding farmers from around the region in distributing their products to market at low cost.

Control of regional mines and resources became increasingly dominated by national corporations rather than local people and organizations, diverting capital outside of Spokane and decreasing growth and investment opportunities in the city.

[22] The Inland Northwest region was heavily dependent on natural resources and extractive goods produced from mines, forests, and farms, which experienced a fall in demand.

[25] When the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam was finally completed in 1942, the Northwest was designated the preferred location to mass-produce sheet aluminum to build materiel for World War II.

[25] In addition to aluminum plants, the government also sited a military distribution center for the war effort, the Velox Naval Depot, in the Spokane Valley because it was believed to be inland enough to be protected from Japanese attack and because it had extensive railroad infrastructure already in place.

[32][33] The opening of the River Park Square Mall in 1999 served as a catalyst and sparked a downtown rebirth that included the renovation of many derelict historic buildings and the expansion of the Spokane Convention Center in 2006.

[36] Also, computer equipment manufacturer Key Tronic,[37] micro-car maker, Commuter Cars,[38] gold mining company Gold Reserve,[39] newspaper publisher Cowles Publishing Company, local investor-owned utility, Avista Utilities,[40] steel manufacturer SCAFCO[41] wholesale hardware distributor, Jensen Distribution Services, and marine equipment manufacturer, EZ Loader Boat Trailers,[42] supermarkets Rosauers Supermarkets,[43] Yoke's Fresh Market, and supermarket food distributor, URM Stores have their head offices in Spokane.

[53] Sizable companies with locations in the Spokane region include, BlueStar Technologies, Ciena, Cisco, F5, Goodrich Corporation, Honeywell, Itron, Kaiser Aluminum, Telect, and Triumph Composite Systems.

[56] With three quarters of the hops in the United States being produced in the Yakima Valley and new varieties being bred on an ongoing basis, there is a growing craft brewery and microbrewery scene in the Pacific Northwest.

[75] The combination of inexpensive power from the Bonneville Dam, and the railroad and Interstate Highway system have provided the city a good manufacturing base.

They relocated the head office and factory from southern California to Post Falls, Idaho reportedly due to high energy costs.

[1] As the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest as well as southern British Columbia and Alberta, the city serves as a commercial, manufacturing, transportation, medical, shopping, and entertainment hub.

[96] The hosting of sporting events has become a stimulus for the lodging industry and the downtown department stores, boutique shops, restaurants and bars nearby the venues.

In 2019, hosting activities resulted in an estimated 55 events with 45,000 visiting athletes booking 61,000 hotel rooms and generating $64 million in direct spending in the local community.

[1][101][102] Due in part because Spokane is the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis and because it lies along the route to many regional attractions, tourism is on the rise in the area.

In addition to being a utility, the company has always tried to branch out into other industries and has had a role in starting a few other notable business in Spokane such as Itron and Engie Impact (founded as a subsidiary called Advantage IQ and formerly Ecova prior to its sale to GDF Suez).

[124] The WSU Spokane Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in the University District was created five years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2015 to help alleviate a physician shortage in rural and eastern Washington using a community-based approach.

[126] There are hopes for increased health and life sciences research and innovation, commercialization and business development resulting from collaboration in the University District.

[136][137] In addition to these traditional economic development mechanisms, there has been the addition of the City of Spokane Targeted Investment Pilot (TIP) program, which aims to use a significant portion of city neighborhood development funds and focus them on a single, visible and important business corridor to transform and revitalize it by reconstructing and updating infrastructure such as streets, sidewalks, trees and landscaping, intersections, and lighting, etc., spurring further private investment.

[142] A number of companies have located or relocated to the Spokane area, drawn by the easy access to raw materials and lower operating costs, such as cheap hydroelectric power including Buck Knives from San Diego.

[143][144] The city maybe benefitting and be able to capitalize on a growing trend of IT firms moving from major urban areas to smaller ones to reduce job stresses like increasing costs of living, labor shortages, and long commutes.

[145] Spokane's downtown was the site of a 100-block wireless "HotZone" network—one of the largest of its kind in the country, which was seen as symbolic of its dedication to the development of technological opportunities and resources.