24 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week
The stories Dane thinks you need to see. August 28, 2025 edition.
Welcome to this week's issue of What Economic Developers Need to Know This Week, where we explore the evolving dynamics of our economy.
This week we have 24 tools , stories, graphics, charts and videos that I think you'll find informative, useful, inspiring, and perhaps even humorous. Some are economic development related directly, and some only indirectly. 🤔
If you're wondering what to do with the info in this newsletter, send something to your board members. It will make you look good!
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1) I've been working on building out a LODES data visualizer (where people work, where they live, and the connections between the two locations) for Sitehunt.
If you'd like to test one for your county or city, send me an email and I'll send you back one. Each visualization takes about ten minutes to generate, so please don't expect an immediate response.
2) Economic Development and Developers in the News # 210 - Econ dev news from 104 economic development executives and organizations in 22 states.
3) Podcast 187: Changing Perceptions of Baltimore with Lakey Boyd - Baltimore: Surprisingly awesome for business.
4) 26 New Economic Development Jobs This Week - From $40,000 to $225,000.
5) 26 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week - The stories Dane thinks you need to see. August 21, 2025 edition.
6) The BLS jobs numbers are actually pretty good: The monthly jobs estimate isn't rigged. It's also not super accurate. But it is useful.
7) Affordable housing projects cost far more than market-rate units: LIHTC funding complexity, fees, and regulations push per-unit costs above $800K-$1M, compared to less than $500K for typical apartments.
8) Google reveals per-prompt AI energy use: A median Gemini text query consumes 0.24 watt-hours, equal to one second of microwave use, plus five drops of water and 0.03g of CO₂. Interestingly, prompts in 2025 use 33× less energy than in 2024.
9) Water infrastructure often gets less attention and focus than other types of infrastructure. Both the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Energy have annual budgets around $46 billion dollars. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has an annual budget of $60 billion. The closest thing the federal government has to a department of water infrastructure, the Bureau of Reclamation, has an annual budget of just $1.1 billion. Water in the US is generally both widely available and inexpensive: my monthly water bill is roughly 5% of the cost of my monthly electricity bill, and the service is far more reliable. And unlike, say, energy, water isn't the locus of exciting technological change or great power competition. But this might be changing: How does the US use water?
🚨 "How far is this building from the airport?"
That's a real RFI question an economic developer I recently spoke with in North Carolina gets all the time.
His answer?
"I know -- but I always I have to go look it up."
He knows his sites better than anyone. But when RFIs demand specific, ever-changing data - broadband availability, utility diameters, drive times, college program stats - it turns into hours of research.
So I showed him what Sitehunt can do.
⚡ In one quick demo:
- It mapped sewer lines and power infrastructure from GIS - down to pipe material
- Pulled FCC broadband data and labor force reports
- Calculated airport drive time instantly
- Filled out a 60-question RFI in minutes
His response?
"Can I try it with one of my own sites?"
That's the moment I aim for in every demo: when the lightbulb goes off and they realize this isn't just software--it's hours of their life back.
If you've ever scrambled to fill out an RFI at the last minute, let's talk.
I'll show you what your next one could look like--with 90% of the work already done.
10) Who is rural America?
11) The U.S. is thriving overall, but prosperity isn't evenly shared: A ZIP code is more than an address: It's a predictor of economic opportunity, health, and longevity, making place one of the strongest determinants of life outcomes.
View the map.
