Economy of Buffalo, New York
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The Buffalo area economy consists of a mix of industrial, light manufacturing, high technology, and service-oriented private sector companies. Instead of relying on a single industry or sector for its economic future, the region has taken a diversified approach that has the potential to create opportunities for growth and expansion in the 21st century.[1]
History
For a long time Buffalo and the surrounding area was involved in railroad commerce, steel manufacture,
Employment
Overall, employment in Buffalo has shifted as its population has declined and manufacturing has diminished. Buffalo's 2005 unemployment rate was 6.6%, contrasted with New York State's 5.0% rate.[3] From the fourth quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter of 2006, Erie County had no net job growth, ranking it 271st among the 326 largest counties in the country.[4] The area has recently seen an upswing in job growth as unemployment has dropped to only 4.9% in July 2007 from 5.2% in 2006 and 6.6% in 2005.[5] The area's manufacturing jobs have continued to show the largest losses in jobs with over 17,000 fewer than at the start of 2006. In contrast, educational and health services added over 30,400 jobs in 2006 and over 20,500 jobs have been added in the professional and business (mostly finance) arena.[6]
Life sciences
Buffalo has increasingly become a center for
Entrepreneurial resources and life science business consultants accelerate the growth and development of emerging companies found within the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and Upstate New York Region. For example, Buffalo BioSciences is a technology commercialization partner to the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences and contributed to the launch and early success of Empire Genomics –- a firm based on research conducted at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center by Dr. Norma Nowak[7] enabling the delivery of personalized medicine.
Banking
Buffalo is the headquarters of M&T Bank, a large regional bank with assets over $79B (as of June 2011).[8] Its rival Marine Midland Bank operated for decades from downtown Buffalo before being acquired by HSBC and being rebranded as HSBC Bank USA. HSBC has reduced its local operations in Buffalo, and Upstate NY as a whole, as it closed its retail banking centers. Many of the shuttered HSBC retail banking centers in upstate were acquired by First Niagara Bank (see below). Other banks, such as Bank of America and KeyBank have corporate operations in Buffalo, the latter expanding its own operations after acquiring First Niagara. Citigroup also has regional offices in Amherst, Buffalo's largest suburb. Buffalo has also become a hub of the debt collection industry.[9]
Other
Buffalo is home to
New Era Cap Company, the largest sports-licensed headwear company in the United States, is based in Buffalo. It opened new headquarters in 2007 in the former Federal Reserve Building in downtown Buffalo.[19]
The windshield wiper maker
For many years, Buffalo was the nation's second largest rail center, after Chicago. Peak traffic was reached during World War II, but declined soon after the war.[21] Through the 1960s and 1970s freight traffic via Buffalo declined, air travel and the New York State Thruway took railway passengers away as well.[21] By 1980, the rail hub in the city was gone.[21]
Regionally based insurance companies also have maintained their headquarters in Buffalo, New York. There's Merchants Insurance Group and Lawley Insurance. Merchants Insurance Group is a property and casualty insurance company that provides commercial, personal property and casualty insurance throughout the Northeast and North Central United States. Lawley Insurance provides commercial insurance, employee benefits, risk management and personal insurance.
Some industry remains in Buffalo and its surrounding area in the 21st Century.
43 North is a venture capital startup competition funded from the Buffalo Billion program. It awards $5 million to its winners each year, and also offers them mentorship, workspace in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and tax incentives from the state of New York, among other benefits.[27][28]
Standard of living
The loss of traditional jobs in manufacturing, rapid suburbanization, and high costs of labor have led to economic decline, making Buffalo one of the poorest among U.S. cities with populations of more than 250,000 people. An estimated 28.7–29.9% of Buffalo residents live below the poverty line, behind either only Detroit,[29] or only Detroit and Cleveland.[30] Buffalo's median household income of $27,850 is third-lowest among large cities, behind only Miami and Cleveland; however the median household income for the metropolitan area is $57,000.[31]
This, in part, has led to the
Buffalo faces issues with vacant and abandoned houses, as the city ranks second to St. Louis on the list of American cities with the most vacant properties per capita. Since 2000, the city has torn down 2,000 vacant homes but as many as 10,000 still remain. Mayor Byron W. Brown recently unveiled a $100 million, five-year plan to demolish 5,000 more houses.[32] The city's move away from heavy industry and toward a service and bioinformatics economy [citation needed] has brought improved air and water quality, which benefit not only residents and tourists but the bioregion as a whole. In July 2005, Reader's Digest ranked Buffalo as the third cleanest large city in the nation.[33]
Buffalo's economy has begun to see significant improvements since the early 2010s.[34] Money from state governor Andrew Cuomo, plans for different construction programs, and hundreds of new jobs have brought strong economic change to the area.[35]
Principal employers
According to the City's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[36] the principal employers in the Buffalo Metropolitan Area are:
# | Employer | # of Employees |
---|---|---|
1 | State of New York | 23,600 |
2 | Federal Executive Board (United States of America) | 15,000 |
3 | Kaleida Health | 8,301 |
4 | M&T Bank | 7,400 |
5 | Catholic Health | 7,184 |
6 | University at Buffalo | 7,076 |
7 | Buffalo City School District
|
6,528 |
8 | Tops Markets
|
5,374 |
9 | Erie County | 5,010 |
10 | Erie County Medical Center | 3,450 |
Major companies located in the Buffalo Niagara metro area
This is an incomplete list of notable companies with major operations or headquarters in Buffalo or within the
References
- ^ University at Buffalo Regional Institute (2011). "Binational Buffalo Niagara Region Report". Regional Knowledge Network. UB Regional Institute. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-89781-198-9.
- ^ "See Erie County". Labor.state.ny.us. Archived from the original on 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2014-09-14.
- ^ "BLS, Table 1. Covered establishments, employment, and wages in the 326 largest counties, fourth quarter 2006". Bls.gov. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014.
- ^ "New York". Labor.state.ny.us. Archived from the original on 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2014-09-14.
- ^ "bizjournals.com". Bizjournals.com. October 24, 2012. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014.
- ^ "About the Founder". Empiregenomics.com. March 18, 2008. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012.
- ^ "M&T Bank : Who Is M&T". Mtb.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013.
- ^ Thompson, Carolyn (January 5, 2010). "Buffalo's debt collectors accused of bullying =". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ "First Niagara 2009". Fnfg.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
- ^ "KDKA-TV".
- ^ "United States Department of Justice" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2009. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ^ "First Niagara 2009" (PDF). Fnfg.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2009.
- ^ First Niagara to buy HSBC bank branches wivb.com Published 2011-07-31. Archived May 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "About Key | KeyBank". Key.com.
- ^ Rich Products Corporation :: Our Business/ Archived October 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ LABATT USA: Company opens new headquarters in Buffalo » Business » Tonawanda News/ Archived October 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [1]/ Archived June 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ History Timeline of the New Era Cap Company/ Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "METRO BUSINESS; Trico Opens Buffalo Site". The New York Times. October 20, 1999. Archived from the original on April 10, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Buffalo Central Terminal – Decline & Abandonment, 1945 – 1990". Buffalohistoryworks.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
- ^ Buffalo Stamping Plant website
- ^ "GM Tonawanda, Buffalo, New York Plant Info". GM Authority. 2 January 2018.
- ^ Robinson, David. "Tesla says it will start making solar roofs in Buffalo by end of year", The Buffalo News, August 2, 2017
- ^ Craig, Susanne (October 25, 2015). "Despite Risks, Cuomo Bets on Solar Power to Lift Buffalo". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
- ^ "About Us". republicsteel.com.
- ^ Rader, Bill. "How This $5 Million Business Competition Highlights The Best Of Entrepreneurship". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ^ "Governor Cuomo Announces Finalists For 43North, the World's Largest Business Idea Competition". Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ^ "Poverty USA – Catholic Campaign for Human Development – A hand up, not a hand out". Usccb.org. July 27, 2011. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011.
- ^ Buffalo 3rd Poorest Large City Archived 2013-01-05 at archive.today. WGRZ TV. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
- ^ Buffalo falls to second-poorest big city in U.S., with a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent. Buffalo News. Retrieved September 2, 2007. [dead link]
- ^ Vacant Houses, Scourge of a Beaten-down Buffalo. New York Times. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
- ^ Derek Burnett,America's Top Five Cleanest Cities. Reader's Digest. Retrieved January 4, 2007. Archived July 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Buffalo, NY | Official Website".
- ^ "Signs of economic revival finally appear - City & Region - The Buffalo News". Archived from the original on 2014-01-28.
- ^ "City of Buffalo 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" (PDF). Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ James Gaskin (May 14, 2017). "Top 10 tech startups blooming in Buffalo". Geektime.