INDUSTRIAL MARKET ACCESS
Two factors combine to provide Starke County, Indiana, with outstanding access to the nation's industrial base. First, a large share of the nation's capacity in steel, automobiles, and heavy manufacturing is still concentrated in the Midwest or Great Lakes states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. About one half of the nation's capacity is such industries is in these five states. Second, the network of east west and north-south interstate and US highways flows through the region. As outlined in the section above, Starke County is well placed within this network.
Consequently, firms located in Starke County have excellent industrial market access. The map in Table 3 demonstrates that most of the Great Lakes states can be reached within five hours of Starke County. Extending driving time to ten hours, the majority of the industrial base of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as a substantial share of Pennsylvania and New York is within reach of Starke County.
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Table 3 - INDUSTRIAL MARKET ACCESS FROM STARKE COUNTY, INDIANA 
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| Selected Manufacturing Industries | National Industry (Employment) | Employment Within Five Hours | Share of Nation | Employment Within Ten Hours | Share of Nation |
| Machine Tool (Cutting) | 25,672 | 12,684 | 49.41% | 18,241 | 71.05% |
| Motor Vehicle Manufacturing | 235,413 | 114,646 | 48.70% | 174,668 | 74.20% |
| Office Furniture (manufactured from metal and other non-wood materials) | 45,111 | 25,768 | 57.12% | 30,091 | 66.70% |
Source: US Department of Commerce, ”County Business Patterns, 2000”, and driving times calculated with Microsoft ”Streets and Trips, 2002”. | |||||
Table 3 provides some examples of market access enjoyed by Starke County. About one half of the machine tool, motor vehicle manufacturing, and office furniture industries are within five hours of Starke County. Within ten hours, almost three quarters of the nation's industrial base in machine tools and motor vehicle manufacturing, and two thirds of the office furniture manufacturing industry can be accessed from Starke County.