Santa Rosa is the area's business and service center. Santa Rosa is also regarded as the center for the popular "Wine Country". By far, wine grapes, bring in the most revenue of all the region's agricultural crops. Market milk, miscellaneous livestock and poultry, cattle and calves and nursery products are also significant elements of the agricultural industry. Due to being part of the famed Wine Country, tourism is a significant factor for the economy. Biomedical, high-tech and the environmental sector also contribute to the local economy.
SantaRosaMFG.com is an association that serves small to midsize manufacturing companies. The organization primarily consists of over 100 specialty manufactures located in the Santa Rosa area. Some of the notable companies are Wright Engineered Plastics, Thermal Technology, Clear Focus Imaging and ICORE International.
The major sectors for employment in Santa Rosa are healthcare, education, construction, accommodation and food services, finance and insurance as well as professional, scientific and technical services. Management, professional and related occupations provide 36% of the jobs in Santa Rosa. Sales and office jobs provide about 21% of the positions.
Some of the most popular jobs in Santa Rosa which are primarily filled by college graduates are registered nurses, teachers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, financial managers, sales managers, computer applications software engineers and computer systems software engineers.
The primary private sector employers in the Santa Rosa region are shown below:
- Kaiser Permanente
- St. Joseph Health System
- Agilent Technologies
- Medtronic Vascular
- Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa
- Safeway Stores
- Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates
- Amy's Kitchen
- Hansel Auto Group
- Home Depot
- JDS Uniphase
- River Rock Casino
- Walmart
- Washington Mutual
- AT&T
- Mary's Pizza Shack
- Wells Fargo
- Korbel
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- State Farm Mutual Insurance
- Beam Wine Estates
- Exchange Bank
- North Bay Construction
- Moonlight Brewing Company
- Russian Brewing Company
- J Santana Real Estate Appraisers
The major government employers include:
- City of Santa Rosa
- Sonoma County
- Santa Rosa Junior College
- Santa Rosa City Schools
- State of California
Noteworthy data about Santa Rosa: In 2008 the cost of living index was at 167.8 which is very high when compared to the nation's average of 100. About 28% of the population older than 25 years of age hold a bachelor's degree or higher. In 2009 the average earnings was $43,000.
Santa Rosa companies may obtain assistance from business organizations such as:
The Press Democrat.com offers current information about the business activities in Santa Rosa.