City of Cape Coral Economic Development Office— New Business Opportunities Abound in Cape Coral, Florida

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The city has about 8,000 businesses, including industrial and white-collar businesses serving global customers. Almost 60 percent of Cape Coral’s workforce is employed in white-collar occupations: management, professional, sales and administrative support. While the core economy is driven by real estate and construction, the Cape is home to several emerging business clusters that are targets for future growth:
• • Headquarters operations
• • Finance, insurance, and real estate services
• • Health-related services, including processing and medical equipment sales
• • Professional business services, including architecture, engineering, law, accounting, and management consulting

More than half of Cape Coral’s population is age 45 or younger, and residents under 25 outnumber those over 65. The Cape’s youthful demographics add vitality to its workforce and help fuel the city’s dynamic economy. Nearly 63 percent of the Cape’s population is of working age (15 to 64). That’s more than 100,000 people (2007) in Cape Coral alone. As of 2007, businesses could choose from a pool of nearly 500,000 skilled workers from the tri-county area surrounding Cape Coral.

Cape Coral has a large infrastructure investment, utilizing sustainable growth practices such as drinking water production and wastewater treatment that produces recycled water resources for home and commercial irrigation systems.

Nearly three-fourths of Florida’s population is within 150 miles of the Cape. Interstate highways connect Cape Coral to Tampa and Orlando to the north, and Miami and Fort Lauderdale to the east. Businesses in the Cape are only a few highway hours from international ports on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Cape Coral is the apex of the growth triangle defined by Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) and Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). RSW is the No.1 midsize hub in the United States and includes a foreign-trade zone designation. Subsequently, Cape Coral functions as a sub-zone — allowing tax and duty savings to import and export businesses.

Cape Coral is a growth market. Only about 45 percent of the city’s pre-platted lots are developed, and it’s predicted that the population will exceed 400,000 at build-out.

The Cape is served by FGCU, one of Florida’s youngest universities, which opened in 1997 and now serves more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is one of a plethora of higher education institutions offering four-year degrees and certifications to a region of more than a million people.