Counties: Big Stone, Blue Earth, Brown, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Le Sueur, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, Sibley, Swift, Waseca, Watonwan, Yellow Medicine
- Southwest Minnesota is home to 12,200 business establishments providing 177,000 jobs through 2018. Average annual wages were $41,780 in the region.
- The industries that employ the most people in the Southwest Region are Healthcare (31,300), Manufacturing (31,100) and Retail Trade (19,900).
- Jobs in the Southwest Region are expected to grow 0.9 percent from 2016 to 2026, a gain of just 1,885 new jobs. That is the slowest of the 6 planning regions in the state. In addition, the region is also expected to need 103,553 replacement openings to fill jobs left vacant by retirements and other career changers.
- The fastest growing occupations in the Southwest Region will be in the following fields: transportation and material moving; farming; construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and healthcare support and practitioners.
Check out our other regions: Metro Region, Northeast Region, Northwest Region, Southeast Region, Southwest Region, Statewide
