Champaign-Urbana Community
Life in Champaign County is richly diverse in what it offers to area residents. Home to the University of Illinois, with its 41,000 students and 22,000 employees, it is an area rich in cultural diversity and educational opportunity. However, since the university accounts for less than half of the employment among larger companies, the community enjoys diverse as well as stable employment. Innovative economic developers have begun to bring large companies to town to establish technological and engineering research facilities. These new organizations are designed to tap the vast resources of the university's faculty and students, while boosting the local economy through increased employment. The region also projects growth in its manufacturing and non-manufacturing corporate presence by seeking to attract new light manufacturing, and high tech distribution companies. County leaders project growth for the first decade of the 21st century at about 9% (compared to 4% in the 1990s).
Life in Champaign County is richly diverse in what it offers to area residents. Home to the University of Illinois, with its 41,000 students and 22,000 employees, it is an area rich in cultural diversity and educational opportunity. However, since the university accounts for less than half of the employment among larger companies, the community enjoys diverse as well as stable employment. Innovative economic developers have begun to bring large companies to town to establish technological and engineering research facilities. These new organizations are designed to tap the vast resources of the university's faculty and students, while boosting the local economy through increased employment. The region also projects growth in its manufacturing and non-manufacturing corporate presence by seeking to attract new light manufacturing, and high tech distribution companies. County leaders project growth for the first decade of the 21st century at about 9% (compared to 4% in the 1990s).