Amazon HQ2 Proposal

Come InnovateWith Us Theentrepreneurial spirit is ingrainedour region’s culture. Wehave produced someof themost recognizable global businesses - Esri, McDonald’s, andBourns Inc. Inaddition to thesehome-grown powerhouses,manybusinesses suchas KTMandAldi havechosen to relocate toour region to growandexpand. We arechanging, however, withanewgenerationof IT, agribusiness andclean tech entrepreneursworking inour local incubators. These incubators includeExCITE indowntownRiverside and theUniversity of

California, Riverside’s (UCR) Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept and InnovationCenter (EPIC). New innovators are supportedby a robust entrepreneurial ecosystemthat providesmentorship, capital and the resources needed tobring ideas to themarketplace.

Innovate in a thriving local economy with an affordable cost of doing business:

27% lower cost of living compared to Seattle

• While employment growth has slowed across California over the last several months, it has continued in the Inland Southern California with nonfarm employment in the region jumping 3 percent fromApril 2016 to April 2017, compared to 1.4 percent in the state as a whole. • Rising incomes and job counts have paved the way for increases in local spending. Taxable sales in the Inland Southern California increased 4.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016.

• Homeownership in the Inland Southern California has continued to rebound, reaching over 61 percent in the first quarter of 2017. Local homeownership rates are now near national levels (63.7 percent) and well above California levels (55.1 percent). Rising population, employment, and income have led to increased demand for commercial retail space. The vacancy rate for retail properties in the Inland Southern California dropped to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017, its lowest point since before the recession. •

Double job growth compared to Los Angeles

42% lower cost of housing compared to Seattle

PAGE 12