Sizing Up Riverside County’s Economic Development Potential & Challenges
Historic and projected development patterns within the Southern California (SoCal) megaregion indicate a promising economic future for Riverside County but also underscore some of the county’s fundamental challenges. For decades Riverside County’s abundant supply of developable land, relatively affordable housing, and excellent quality of life attributes have fueled strong population growth, in large part driven by migration from SoCal’s more expensive and congested coastal counties.
In addition to leading Southern California in population and housing growth, Riverside County has also experienced impressive growth in local employment opportunities. However, job gains have generally lagged population increases and have largely been concentrated in local-serving industries (which typically generate lower-paying jobs than “traded” or export-oriented industries). Other than local-serving industries, logistics has emerged as Riverside County’s most prominent traded industry cluster in recent years, playing a vital role in strengthening the Inland Empire’s economic base, particularly in the post-Great
Recession recovery. However, the momentum of this sector has slowed in the aftermath of the pandemic, as shifting global supply chains and regional saturation have tempered further expansion. As the region looks ahead, there is growing momentum to build on this success by expanding into other traded sectors, such as advanced manufacturing, clean technology, and professional services, that offer broader career pathways and long-term economic resilience. With increasing awareness of the environmental and infrastructure challenges associated with large-scale logistics development, communities across Riverside County are embracing a more balanced and forward-thinking approach.
The above-described dynamics have resulted in an economy that, while very strong by traditional measures (population/housing growth and gross numbers of jobs), has not fully met the economic needs of Riverside County’s workforce. As such, many Riverside County residents must commute to jobs outside the county. Indeed, Riverside County’s resident workforce has the largest proportion of out-commuters (and the longest commute times) among all counties in Southern California. Improving this longstanding condition by increasing both the quantity and quality of Riverside County-based job opportunities is a fundamental objective of the EDSP.
Notwithstanding these underlying challenges, Riverside County’s unique institutional assets (most notably, industry-supporting research and business development functions at UC Riverside) provide a tremendous springboard for promoting innovation, supporting expansion and attraction of high-paying industries, and nurturing technology-oriented entrepreneurial investments.
Reflecting this combination of very favorable conditions with notable concerns, the EDSP focuses on strategic actions that can harness the county’s economic momentum, leverage a partnership approach to economic development, and maximize the growth potentials of legacy and emerging industries to continue to improve both the quantity and quality of employment opportunities accessible to Riverside County’s resident workforce.
Connection to Regional and State Initiatives. Significantly, the EDSP is being launched at a time when the State is rolling out a groundbreaking initiative (California Jobs First, or CJF), to transform California’s economic future. The strategic vision for CJF is articulated in the State Economic Blueprint released in February 2025.
The three-year planning effort for CJF embraced a bottom-up approach whereby opportunities and needs were comprehensively evaluated within each of California’s 13 economic regions, allowing for the development (separate from the statewide Blueprint) of region-specific aspirational targets (industry clusters) and implementation structures. As noted in the Blueprint, this process forged new coalitions in each of the 13 regions that “brought together voices from business, labor, community, education, local government, and more to collectively design the economic future they envision for their respective communities.”
CJF’s “Inland SoCal” region encompasses Riverside and San Bernardino counties, reflecting the commonalities and shared economic assets of the Inland Empire’s two counties. The implementation framework for Inland SoCal is provided in the Thrive Inland SoCal California Jobs First (CJF) Regional Plan (also released in early 2025).
Riverside County’s Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) is designed to align with and amplify CJF initiatives, serving as a catalyst for deeper regional collaboration while affirming RivCoED’s commitment to addressing Riverside County-specific priorities. The EDSP selectively integrates best practices, research insights, and the overarching vision articulated in CJF planning documents, ensuring coherence with broader regional goals. At the same time, the EDSP positions Riverside County to capitalize on state and regional investments in high-growth industry sectors, particularly those that represent the county’s strongest opportunities for sustainable job creation and inclusive economic advancement.