The city of Merritt is open for business.

That’s the message put forth by the release of the Merritt and area investment ready community profile, which is available on the city’s website.

The report is broken down into 13 sections, summarizing everything from Merritt’s demographics to post-secondary institutions to utility systems to housing to taxation, for potential investors to look at.

Dozens of cities, including Cache Creek, 100 Mile House, Fort St. John, Squamish and Vanderhoof, have these profiles available.

They tell potential investors everything they need to know to begin researching where to set up shop or offer their services, whatever those may be.

They’re a snapshot in time (2011 to be exact, as the numbers are based on Statistics Canada’s census from that year) that tell potential investors who lives here, what we do here, and, most importantly, perhaps point out what’s missing, and where investors could find opportunities.

In case you’ve ever wanted to look at Merritt by the numbers, this is a good way to do it.

The median age of Merritt is 50.4, which is higher than the provincial median of 41.9.

Merritt’s age is bumped up because there are about twice as many people in the 55 to 74 category than the 18 to 34 range.

The median income for Merritt’s 2,900 households is $61,890.

When it comes to income, we’ve got every bracket covered.

The number of people earning $80,000 and over (930) is about even with the number of people earning $40,000 to $79,999 (980), which is about even with the number of people earning less than $39,999 (995).

Fifty-five per cent of the population has just a high school diploma or less, while just one per cent holds a medical, dentistry or optometry degree.

The labour force employment by industry statistics were interesting.

Of the 3,140 people in the labour force in Merritt, the service industry employs the most people, with 1,220 employees.

Next is retail, with 500 employees.

Another 340 are in manufacturing, followed by 215 in construction and 205 in the logging industry.

Those numbers change a bit when you break down what people’s jobs within those industries actually are.

Sales and service jobs topped the occupational statistics at a whopping 900 employees.

I didn’t find anything from the profile particularly surprising, but it is reassuring to know my perception of the what this town is like isn’t way off — by the numbers, anyway.

Check it out for yourself on the city’s website at merritt.ca.