Stone, Kenneth E.; Artz, Georgeanne M.

(June 30 1999)

Iowa State University Extension Service has been computing retail surplus and leakage for Iowa counties for about 20 years. The purpose of these computations is to inform merchants and county leaders of the status of retail trade in their counties, compared to other counties, and to indicate any trends that may be developing. It is hoped that interested merchants and leaders will use this data as a basis for correcting deficiencies and taking advantage of opportunities in their respective trade areas.

The retail trade surplus or leakage figures in this report compute the net outflow (leakage) or inflow (surplus) of retail trade for each county. They are derived from sales data reported annually by the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance, population data from the U.S Census Bureau and income data published by Sales and Marketing Management Magazine in the annual Survey of Buying Power.