Curtis Dubay Curtis Dubay
Chief Economist, U.S Chamber of Commerce

Published

February 04, 2025

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In 2022, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce analyzed the community economic impact of building new distribution centers (DCs) in 30 metropolitan areas (MSAs) around the country. DCs are an important and growing part of the economy as retail moves more and more online.

In the original study, the Chamber found that a new 3,000 worker DC would create, on average, 2,111 extra jobs in MSAs, expand the labor force by 3,500, and increase salaries and wages $360 million, which was 1.8% per year.  

In the three years since conducting that research, the importance of DCs to the economy has grown. As has their technological sophistication. DCs have more technology than they did three years ago, and that advancement requires a more diverse workforce. This includes more early career professionals, more technical experts to install and maintain the robotics, and more highly skilled workers.

Given these developments, it made sense to re-examine the impact of DCs in additional communities than we analyzed in the report. We applied the same assumptions; however, in this update, we assumed the DCs would have 4,000 workers, an extra 1,000 to reflect that DCs are growing in size to meet increased demand. We also assumed a higher proportion of the workers in a new DC are highly skilled workers needed to build and maintain the complicated machinery that makes a DC functional.

The results of the six new cities the Chamber analyzed are in the table below. Additionally, the Chamber calculated how much additional sales and property taxes each community would raise because of the increased economic activity from a new DC.  

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The results of the research show the economic impact of DCs is sizeable for the MSAs analyzed.  

MSAs that see the addition of similar-sized DCs could expect to see similar economic benefits accrue to their economies and, more importantly, their residents.  

About the authors

Curtis Dubay

Curtis Dubay

Curtis Dubay is Chief Economist, Economic Policy Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He heads the Chamber’s research on the U.S. and global economies.

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