Wilkes Economic Status

State officials have released their overall ranking of economic conditions, and local officials find few surprises. Surry County, which was hit hard this year with multiple plant closings and the loss of an estimated 1,000 manufacturing jobs, continues to rank in the bottom tier of the state's 100 counties in terms of overall economic health. This is the second straight year that Surry and nearby Alleghany county have both been designated as a Tier 1 county, which the N.C. Department of Commerce labels “economically distressed.” Thirty nine other counties, many of them in eastern and western parts of North Carolina, were in the same category with Surry and Alleghany.
Wilkes county, on the other hand, is felt by state officials to be doing better, and remains in the second, or middle, tier of counties. Stokes and Yadkin counties are in the same tier.
State law requires that the commerce department annually rank all 100 counties, taking into account the unemployment rate, median household income, population growth and assessed property value per capita. The tier designations offer companies more incentives to invest in economically distressed areas of the state by giving them a higher tax credit for each job created than in urban counties. Tier 1 counties are eligible for $12,500 in tax credits for each new job with a minimum requirement of five jobs. In Wilkes and other Tier 2 counties, a company adding jobs in those counties are eligible for a $5,000 tax credit for each new job.
Commerce officials said each of the state's 100 counties retained their existing rankings.