McLean County economic outlook shows reason for optimism

Posted on June 15, 2017

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – McLean County’s economic outlook is reasonably strong. That’s according to Ed Scharlau, Vice Chairman of Busey Bank.

Scharlau outlined the local economy Wednesday during the annual Economic Outlook for McLean County at Illinois Wesleyan University.

“We have several reasons to be optimistic,” said Scharlau. “Real estate sales are strong, people are spending money and agriculture is still one of the strongest industries in McLean County. The economic indicators show the hard work of various industries to increase the quality of life for our community members and our visitors.”

Scharlau noted the county’s agriculture output grew slightly to $485 million last year, but that’s expected to drop this year. The county produced the most corn and soybeans in Illinois and the most corn of any county across the country in 2016.

Home sales rose close to three percent across McLean County last year, while the unemployment rate fell more than a point over the last year to 3.7 percent.

Scharlau said retail sales were up slightly at $2.468 billion in 2016 from the previous year at $2.462 billion, according to the sales tax report from the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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