For Business

Why Stanislaus

Access to Markets

Stanislaus County is within a two-hour drive of San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Sacramento. Our county is in close proximity to four International Airports, a regional airport and Modesto’s executive jet airport: Sacramento International Airport, Oakland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, San Jose (Silicon Valley) International Airport, Stockton Regional Airport, Modesto Executive Airport.

There are two major railroad lines through BNSF and Union Pacific Railroads, plus a number of short line railroads in the county that connect the two major railroads. Interstate 5 and Highway 99, which connect Northern and Southern California, both run directly through Stanislaus County. Not only do State Routes 32, 108 and 120 connect the county to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, but to scenic destinations such as Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe as well.

Plentiful Workforce

Stanislaus County’s workforce is growing! Jobs increased by 6,563 over the last 5 years. Projected to increase by 14,881 over the next 5 years. Additionally, our workforce is young. Nearly 50% of our workforce are in their mid-twenties to early 40s. There is great potential to acquire talent as we train the next generation of necessary skill sets with industry-led vocational training in areas like manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and technology.

Low-Cost Utilities

Stanislaus County is served by four different utilities that provide electric, natural gas, water and wastewater services. These four utilities are Modesto Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Oakdale Irrigation District. In addition, the City of Modesto provides potable water service and wastewater service to city residents and industrial users. Stanislaus County utilities have invested billions of dollars in the past century to create the infrastructure necessary to provide clean, abundant and lower cost services than their counterparts throughout the state. On average, Stanislaus County, CA residents spend about $146 per month on electricity. That adds up to $1,752 per year. That's 26% lower than the national average electric bill of $2,362.

Easy Collaboration

Because of the culture of our business community and size of our market, it is easy to connect with businesses and do business locally.  We pride ourselves on promoting local business.  In a recent survey of local industry, 32% of respondents named location as the top strength of Stanislaus County as a place to do business, followed by supplier access (10%), and local business climate (10%).  One of our initiatives is to develop even stronger local supply chain relationships.

Pro-Business Atmosphere

Our local governments have established, as a high priority, easing navigation of local government regulatory and permitting requirements.  In early 2016 each of our nine cities and Stanislaus County signed the “Stanislaus Builds Accountable and Prompt Permitting Program” which provides for the following:

  • Centralized permit centers to limit the travel required by applicants throughout the permitting and entitlement process;   

  • Development services representatives, which assigns each applicant their own representative to act as a liaison throughout the permitting process;   

  • No-cost predevelopment reviews to identify, early in the process, potentially difficult issues that might delay permitting;   

  • Phased building permit issuance, which allows the bundling of permits by phase whenever possible;   

  • Expedited plan review and inspection so that applicants on major projects can have access to key staff working on an overtime basis as available;  

  • Customer service training to ensure that all team members within and among the agencies are consistently trained in best practices and use that knowledge and expertise to provide the best possible customer service for applicants.