Economic Impact of Training Center Cape May

As you may know, Training Center Cape May is the nation’s only training site for Coast Guard recruits, and is also the fifth-largest Coast Guard base in the nation. Training Center Cape May is important to Cape May County’s economy, and not only because of the stable year-round employment opportunities it provides in a mostly seasonal environment.
Considering economic activity from Training Center Cape May as well as wages paid to employees, total direct and indirect economic impact within Cape May County totals to approximately $242 million annually.
The economic impacts are derived from the following facts about the operations of the Center:
1. The Coast Guard is one of the largest employers in Cape May County, employing almost 614 military and civilian personnel totaling approximately $39.5M in annual salary costs.
2. The annual operational expenses, not including military and civilian wages, equate to $27.5M.
3. There is an average annual capital expenditure of $5.3M. In the past five years several large projects were completed.
4. At any point in time, roughly 500 recruits are on base. That average figure equates to a total annual salary cost of close to $14.5M for recruits.
5. In addition, Training Center Cape May hosts approximately 45,000 visitors annually. These visitors come here from every corner of the United States.
Economic impact is just one of many reasons that the Cape May County community is grateful for the presence of Training Center Cape May and Coast Guard personnel in our region!
Thanks to Richard C. Perniciaro, PhD, Economic Consultant and former Director of the Center for Regional and Business Research at Atlantic Cape Community College, for preparing an economic impact statement on which the contents of this article are based.