Pittsylvania County, which has been losing jobs for decades as entire industries have shriveled up and died, has seen a remarkable run of good luck.
In 2024, the Tennessee-based battery maker Microporous announced plans to build a plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite that will employ 2,015 people, marking the first expansion of the Southeastern “battery belt” into Virginia. Construction is expected to start soon.
A few weeks ago, an Italian rocket maker announced it would set up operations in the industrial park at Hurt, creating 1,500 jobs.
Now comes word that a Colorado company with ties to data center companies is in the process of buying most of the land at the megasite, with plans for a development that, according to a draft of the performance agreement, would create 2,050 jobs.
The Microporous deal was the biggest jobs announcement in Southside in decades; now it’s set to be eclipsed by the impending announcement of whatever this Colorado company is.
It’s difficult to describe just how big a deal this is for Pittsylvania, and the whole southern part of the state, but let’s try.
Pittsylvania’s job count peaked in December 2000 at 32,258. It’s been going down in fits and starts ever since then. If we don’t count the pandemic, Pittsylvania’s job count hit a low point of 25,650 in July 2019. As of December 2025, the job count stood at 27,465, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s 4,793 jobs lower than that high point more than a quarter-century ago.
If all the jobs that have been announced for those three companies happen, that adds up to 5,565, which means Pittsylvania wouldn’t simply go back to the county’s record employment in 2000; it would set a new mark.
Those jobs may not all come at once: The Microporous project is set for completion by 2028. The rocket maker Avio is also on a trajectory to open by 2028. The draft performance agreement with the Colorado company, whatever it is, sets job targets over 30 years. Still, this is a remarkable run of big-number announcements breaking in a short period of time.
These announcements come against a broader backdrop of other announcements in neighboring counties. Just last week, a Korean auto parts company announced it would locate in Henry County, creating 60 jobs. Last September, a Pennsylvania firm said it would open a tin production facility in Henry, creating 118 jobs. Last fall, Hitachi Energy said it would expand its existing operation in Halifax County to add 825 jobs related to building power grid components. The year before, in 2024, IperionX opened a titanium recycling plant in Halifax with more than 100 jobs.
Keep in mind that manufacturing jobs are shrinking nationally, so why are they popping up so frequently in Southside Virginia — a part of the state that’s generally seen manufacturing decline with the demise of furniture and textiles?
A partial answer is that’s where the land is.
A better answer is that’s where industrial parks are, which reflect years of planning and investment by local governments — and the willingness to see them sit there, empty or partially empty, while the citizenry complains that nothing is happening. Industrial parks are a long game — if acquiring jobs were as simple as making a run to Walmart, then nobody would ever have to worry about the economy.
An even better answer is that Virginia — starting toward the end of Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration and continuing under Gov. Glenn Youngkin — has made a concerted effort to invest in large sites and get them “business-ready.” The Southern Virginia Megasite lost prospects in the past because the land was there, but it wasn’t always graded or outfitted with utilities. As he was leaving office, Youngkin said the state had invested $500 million in infrastructure for economic development during his term, with $270 million of that going to “business-ready sites.” The map he provided showed that most counties in Southside had received some of that money.
Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state’s economic development agency, offers more context: “A big part of this story is project-ready sites during a wave of manufacturing and data center investment. Certain manufacturing segments are quite hot right now, including aerospace and defense (see Avio) and electrical components (see Hitachi Energy). The inventory of high-quality, project-ready sites is thin across the country, so states and communities that have inventory to market are advantaged (even if those communities are situated in rural regions).” That’s why, he says, it’s important that the state continue funding site-readiness — and at a consistent level.
Of the state’s seven largest job announcements from 2024-present, two of the top three are in Pittsylvania, and three of the top seven are in Southside (this brings in Hitachi). And because it’s not official yet, the most recent one (with the Colorado company) isn’t included. If it were, that would give Pittsylvania County three of the top four in that time span. The biggest jobs announcement in that time is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development relocating some jobs to Alexandria — 2,700 jobs. Those are government jobs, so Pittsylvania dominates for private investment.
What we’re seeing here is the classic case of building a new economy. Many of these are industries that simply haven’t existed in that part of Virginia before. Those Avio rocket jobs offer the best contrast. The Southern Virginia Multimodal Park in Hurt, where Avio will go, is at the site of a former textile plant.
These new jobs also represent a significant increase in pay from what the region is accustomed to. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average weekly wage in Pittsylvania last year was $946 a week, which, at a 40-hour work week, comes to $49,182. The Microporous jobs will average “at least $58,090” per year, according to the initial announcement. The Colorado company’s jobs will pay an average of $80,500, according to the draft performance agreement. Avio’s jobs have been put at $81,400 a year.
What will be the impact? That’s harder to gauge, but some things are measurable — such as population.
Pittsylvania County’s population peaked in 1950 at 66,096, dipped for two decades, then rebounded to 66,147 in 1980. Since then, it’s been going down, not in every census, but in most. The trend line has certainly been downward. The most recent population estimates, through last year, put the county at 58,825 and still falling.
What’s changed — apparently in just the past year — is how those population changes have been taking place. Most of Pittsylvania’s population decline has been driven by deaths outnumbering births, but the county has also seen more people moving out than moving in. That’s now changed, according to the latest population estimates from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. From 2020 to 2025, Pittsylvania now shows more people moving in than moving out — a modest gain of 121, but still better than losing people. Its population decline is now driven entirely by deaths outnumbering births, the combined impact of an older population and declining birth rates.
Danville is now seeing strong in-migration (a net of 2,261 from 2020-2025) and, when balanced against deaths vs. births, is gaining population again by 614 since the last census.
Those trends match larger ones that show an increase in the number of people moving into smaller communities. What’s noteworthy here is that the Pittsylvania and Danville gains have come before the impact of these new jobs hit. The likelihood is that these jobs will slow some of the out-migration (people who would have moved away can now find jobs at home) and increase the number of people moving in (to fill some of those jobs).
This will likely increase the demand for housing and also cause some spillover growth in neighboring localities. Given their proximity to the megasite, Martinsville and Henry County would seem likely beneficiaries.
The only thing certain is this: Until now, only the oldest among us has lived in a world where Southside Virginia dominated the state’s economic development announcements.
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