Where does Mount Ayr fit into the state in terms of retail sales statistics?
For its size, the city has some of the top sales figures in the state, according to a recent retail trade analysis program from Iowa State University.
Take pull factor.
The pull factor ratio is derived by dividing the estimate of the number of customers drawn to shop in a community by the community’s population. A pull factor ratio of 1.0 means that the community is selling to all of its consumer equivalents.
A total of 11 communities in the state have a pull factor of 2.0 or better, meaning they attract twice the number of people who would be anticipated by their population.
Mount Ayr ranks seventh in the entire state with a pull factor ratio of 2.39 behind West Burlington, Elkader, Williamsburg, Spirit Lake, Coralville and Walcott. This is down from a pull factor of 2.58 recorded in 2007.
This compares to the peer group pull factor of communities Mount Ayr’s size of 1.38 in 2008.
Other area communities in the top 100 include Creston at a ratio of 1.61 at number 34, Corning at a ratio of 1.45 at number 47, Leon at a ratio of 1.35 at number 58 and Osceola at a ratio of 1.25 at number 70. Des Moines has a pull factor ratio of 1.52 and ranks number 40.
Ringgold county as a whole does not fair quite as well, but still does fairly well for a small county. The county has a pull factor of .9 in 2008, down from .96 in 2007. This means that almost all of the expected retail sales total from the county is spent in the county. Retail sales that escape the county from local people purchasing in other places are made up for sales from people from other counties shopping in Ringgold county.
Another statistic from the analysis is a measure of change in real sales between 2000 and 2007. For this measure, inflation in dollars is taken into account.
With this measure, Mount Ayr ranks 23rd in the state with an increase in retail sales of 47.76 percent over the period. Most of the communities topping the list are suburbs of Iowa’s largest cities. Elk Run Heights, a suburb of Waterloo, for example, leads the way with an increase of 378.17 percent.
Other area communities on the list include Lenox at number 90 with a 5.29 percent increase and Leon at number 93 with a 4.59 percent increase.
Area communities making the list for the largest declines in real sales over the period included Bedford at number 28 with a decline of 26.72 percent, Corning at number 94 with a decline of 10.18 percent and Creston at number 97 with a decline of 9.7 percent.
Mount Ayr also ranks high on the list of per capita sales by city. Sales in Mount Ayr totaled $17,391 per person, ranking the community 26th on the communities for retail sales in the state. It ranks right behind 25th place Des Moines with sales of $17,618 per person.
The figure for Mount Ayr is down from $18,112 in fiscal year 2007 and compares with the state per capita sales of $11,704 per person and the sales in communities Mount Ayr’s size of $8,432 per person.
Per capita sales for Ringgold county as a whole total $6,812, down from $7,021 in 2007.
Other area communities on the top 100 sales per capita include Creston at number 43 with $14,664 sales per person, Corning at number 74 with sales of $12,743 per person and Osceola at number 93 with sales of $11,377 per person.
Another of the interesting factors in the report is the percentage of people working outside Mount Ayr or Ringgold county. Some 18.1 percent of Mount Ayr residents work outside the county and 26.4 percent of other county residents work outside the county, compared to the Iowa average of 21.8 percent.
Some 26.2 percent of Mount Ayr residents work outside Mount Ayr and 47.4 percent of Ringgold county residents work outside the city where they live. This compares to 44.9 percent for the state.