Medina County economic development office reports $338 million in 2025 capital investment and about 450 new jobs

Medina County Economic Development reported strong business activity in 2025, citing a 35% increase in capital investment and a growing pipeline of projects expected to support local hiring and infrastructure.

Bethany Detler, speaking for Medina County Economic Development, told commissioners that "compared to 2024, Medina County's capital investment by the business community was actually up 35%." She said companies in the county spent nearly $338,000,000 on building expansions and new machinery and equipment last year and announced just over 450 new jobs that staff expect will generate about $16,200,000 in new payroll.

Detler said the office developed 64 new project leads in house and tracked another 52 external inquiries from JobsOhio. Of those in-house projects, staff closed 30 as wins for Medina County, some of which began as early as 2019. She described a continuing emphasis on industrial projects (the majority of pipeline work), with 28% of tracked projects commercial and others in land development and industrial parks.

Workforce development was a central theme. Detler noted ongoing partnerships with schools, the Medina County manufacturing partnership and the county's pre-apprenticeship program, which she said has graduated more than 600 participants to date and plans to expand grade-appropriate experiences across K–12. The office is also promoting a $1,000 work-scholarship grant for high school seniors entering the workforce.

Detler described state-level tools and grant activity that the county is using or pursuing. She said the state rolled out WorkOhio, a workforce initiative and website, and recommended it as a complementary resource to the county's OhioMeansJobs office. Medina County Economic Development applied for $2,100,000 in the next round of Welcome Home Ohio funding to support construction of additional affordable housing and reported a pending $740,000 application tied to a Seville renovation project converting a former elementary school into townhomes. Staff also noted reimbursements totaling $866,500 from the Ohio Department of Development for several brownfield and demolition projects.

What happens next: Staff said it will return to commissioners in late March for approvals related to community reinvestment area monitoring and housing council recommendations; grant applications and TID (transportation improvement district) priorities will be advanced as deadlines approach.

Context: The office reported Medina County's November unemployment rate at 2.8%, which Detler said was among the lowest in Ohio at the time of the report. Detler described a robust project pipeline and emphasized continued work on workforce-readiness initiatives.