THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020767
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 36 lines
South Hampton Roads boasts two of the top five cities in Virginia in numbers of businesses, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
Virginia Beach hosts 9,278 business establishments to place second. Norfolk has 5,527 businesses, fifth in the state, according to the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns report for 1994.
Fairfax County was far and away the top jurisdiction with 22,694 businesses, the Census Bureau concluded. But anyone who has lived in the commonwealth for even a couple of years knows that Fairfax is more a Washington suburb than part of Virginia.
The County Business Pattern report is used by businesses that want to measure the impact of their ad spending or decide where to locate, says Jerry Feuer, a Census Bureau staffer who helped with the study. The numbers come from statistics businesses are required to provide to the Internal Revenue Service, then a follow-up survey by the Census Bureau.
Technically speaking, the Census counts ``business establishments,'' which means a three-person branch office counts as much as a Fortune 500 headquarters. They both count as one.
Even so, Virginia Beach and Norfolk also ranked in the top five in terms of employees at business establishments. Fairfax was again first with 357,508 workers, followed by: Richmond (176,943), Virginia Beach (115,355), Norfolk (106,685) and Henrico County (96,250).
``You would expect that because we are the largest city in the state,'' Virginia Beach Vice Mayor W.D. Sessoms Jr. said. ``But I think we are getting to be known as a pro-business city, and businesses attract other businesses.'' MEMO: FOR INFORMATION:\ Details of the report will be available at the
end of this month on the Internet (http://www.census.gov). by CNB