PITTSBURG, Kan. — The holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year can make or break a small retail business. According to the latest quarterly report from the Kelce College of Business at Pittsburg State, the 2023 season started off strong with figures from the Thanksgiving holiday. Numbers from the Christmas season should be in the next quarterly report.
With more than 40 specialty stores, the health of downtown Pittsburg is a strong indicator for the quality of life in the city. Placer.ai shows 4,700 people visited downtown stores on Small Business Saturday, a 45 percent increase over Black Friday. Retail sales in the Pittsburg area totaled $678.1 million for 2023, an increase of 2.8 percent in 2023 from 2022.
Despite recent federal economic stimuli beginning to dry up, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the local economy to be on a sound foundation. The number of jobs in the area increased by 501 to 17,806 in 2023, a 2.9 percent jump locally from the same quarter last year. The state experienced 2.4 percent growth, and the national average was only a 2.2 percent increase.
Retail market space in Pittsburg varies per square foot, depending on what part of the city the space is located in. In the downtown area, rent averages $7 while on North Broadway it hits $12 per square foot of space. Space in a strip mall is running at $17. Office space follows a similar pattern with downtown space going for $11 per square foot, North Broadway running at $16, and strip malls coming in at $20 per square foot.
In October of 2023, the Pittsburg area averaged 0.7 unemployed persons per available job. This is a slight decrease from October 2019, with 0.8, and a massive decrease from October of 2020, during the height of Covid, with 1.6 persons per job available.
Consumers have had a trying year in 2023. With inflation rising, real earnings declined by 3.2 percent between 2020 and 2023 and buyers have cut back on spending, especially for large purchases. Despite this, sales tax collections for the City of Pittsburg have also increased during the period of January to August, from $7.8 million in 2022 to $8.2 million in 2023, an increase of 5.5 percent. A portion of the sales tax revenue is earmarked for emergency services to purchase new equipment, upgrade and maintain current gear, and to hire new personnel.
As a regional trade hub, Pittsburg shows a retail pull-factor of 1.86, meaning that Pittsburg would have to be 85 percent larger if all retail purchases were made only by people living in Pittsburg.
The housing market is shaping up to be one of the worst in decades. Construction costs have skyrocketed, mortgage rates are at their highest in more than 20 years, and the amount of existing housing is lacking. Today, the average mortgage payment, not including the property tax held in escrow, tops $2,500 per month for a 2,400 square-foot home, a 112 percent increase since the first quarter of 2021.
Zillow, an online real estate site, says the average price for a home should be equal to or less than 2.6 times the median income. In 2022, it was 5.3 times; in 2023, it was 7.48 times. The Kansas Association of Realtors said the 341 homes sold in Pittsburg was a 13.5 percent decline in number of sales, but the average price increased by 11 percent.
The number of middle-income households in Pittsburg, those that fall between $50,000 and $100,000 annually, has grown by 7.3 percent since 2015, a significant increase when compared to 1.4 percent statewide, and 0.9 percent nationally. For the Pittsburg MIcropolitan Area, meaning Crawford County as a whole, the increase is still sizable at 4.8 percent. Bankruptcies are also down by 23.8 percent, with only 16 filed.
The cost of living in the area is still largely below national averages with Pittsburg area residents paying 86.7 percent, or 86.7 cents per dollar spent nationally, with most necessities at or below 90 cents on the dollar. Only utility costs are higher, at $1.04 per $1 spent nationally.
The past few years have been challenging. With wars in Ukraine and Israel, a troublesome housing market, continuing inflation, and a presidential election year coming up, 2024 could be interesting.
