Santa Rosa ranks second among Florida’s top 10 paycheck-friendly counties, according to a study conducted by SmartAsset, a New York City-based financial technology firm.
Santa Rosa — edged out of the state’s top spot by Saint Johns County — ranked 174th nationally. Okaloosa County ranked third in the state and 201st nationally.
The study weighed four main factors — semi-monthly paycheck, purchasing power, unemployment rate and income growth — according to a SmartAsset news release.
“This shows that we are a place for continued growth and a great place to live,” Santa Rosa County Director of Economic Development Shannon Ogletree said. “It shows that demand hasn’t outstripped supply yet.”
The study’s authors used a $50,000 annual income, calculating a semi-monthly paycheck for a single individual with two personal allowances, applying relevant deductions and exemptions before factoring in income tax withholding. They created a purchasing power index for each county that reflects counties with the highest ratio of household income to cost of living. In addition, they included each county’s unemployment rates and the annual growth in median income over five years. A weighted average of the four indices determined an area’s overall paycheck friendliness.
Santa Rosa County’s semi-monthly paycheck was $1,687. Its unemployment rate was 4.8, and its income growth was 1.4 percent.
The study is good news for those poised to enter the local workforce, said Charlin Knight, Santa Rosa County Schools’ director of workforce education.
“That should be attractive for people wanting to do business here and for students wanting to stay here,” Knight said. “It’s my hope that we will be keeping more of our talent here after they graduate.”
She added that she’d like to see more advanced manufacturing and aviation and aerospace firms in Santa Rosa County.
Ogletree agreed, saying that Santa Rosa’s “good, quality schools,” coupled with its low taxes, have the potential to appeal to a wide range of businesses.
“When companies want to move themselves and their key staff here, they can see that our lower rates and our values … are a big winner,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa named ‘paycheck-friendly’ county