Economic ≠ fiscal
Jobs and wages tell one story; tax revenue against public cost tells another. A project can look great economically and still lose money for the city. Serious decisions need both answers.
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Economic & Fiscal
Impact Analysis.
What a project creates. What it costs. What it returns.
Vista quantifies the economic and fiscal impact of projects — jobs, wages, tax revenue, and public investment returns — for companies, developers, and communities. Economist-led, IMPLAN-modeled, and delivered through our Development Impact Model, built for audiences that push back.
Why It's Different
Impact numbers face hostile audiences.
Councils, boards, and reporters all get a vote. The analysis has to survive all three.
Credibility is the product
An inflated multiplier gets torn apart in one council meeting. Vista's studies are built by an in-house economics team on conservative, documented methodology — because a number nobody believes is worth nothing.
Phases change the math
Construction impact, operations impact, and induced spending behave differently — and multi-phase, mixed-use developments compound the complexity. The model has to match the project.
Numbers need narrative
A council member has to repeat your conclusion to a skeptical constituent. We deliver the story with the spreadsheet — public-facing summaries that survive being quoted.
What We Deliver
One team. One engine.
Site strategy, incentives, and analytics — integrated from day one. No handoffs. No silos.
Economic impact studies
IMPLAN-based modeling of direct, indirect, and induced impacts — jobs, payroll, and output — for facilities, expansions, and events.
Fiscal impact & public ROI
Development Impact Model analysis of tax revenues against public costs — the return a community actually earns on a project or incentive.
Development scenario modeling
Mixed-use, residential, retail, hotel, and entertainment district projects modeled phase by phase, with tax revenue projections per scenario.
Incentive justification analysis
Independent numbers that support an incentive ask — or help a community decide whether one is warranted.
Public-facing narratives
Executive summaries, exhibits, and talking points built for council chambers, press coverage, and community meetings.
Proposal & RFP support
Impact analysis, maps, and workforce validation that strengthen federal proposals, development RFPs, and grant applications.
How We Work
Four phases. Zero drift.
Phase 01
Frame the question
Whose decision does this analysis serve — a council, a board, an agency? The audience defines the model.
Phase 02
Build the model
Project inputs, phasing, and local tax structure assembled into IMPLAN and Development Impact Model runs.
Phase 03
Stress the results
Conservative assumptions, sensitivity runs, and documented methodology — ready for hostile review.
Phase 04
Deliver the story
Board-ready reports and public-facing summaries that hold up when quoted, challenged, and repeated.
Questions, Answered
Impact Analysis FAQ
What is an economic impact study?
An economic impact study quantifies what a project contributes to a regional economy: direct jobs and payroll, plus the indirect and induced activity created as suppliers hire and employees spend. Done properly — with industry-standard tools like IMPLAN and conservative assumptions — it turns "this project is good for the area" into numbers a decision-maker can defend.
What's the difference between economic impact and fiscal impact?
Economic impact measures activity — jobs, wages, and output added to the economy. Fiscal impact measures government money — the tax revenues a project generates versus the public costs it creates. A project can score well on one and poorly on the other, which is why communities evaluating incentives or infrastructure investments need both analyses.
Who needs an impact study?
Three groups, mainly: developers seeking approvals, rezonings, or public support for a project; companies making the public case for an incentive package; and communities or economic development organizations deciding whether a project or incentive is worth it. The same rigorous analysis serves all three — what changes is the question it answers.
What information do you need to run an impact analysis?
The core inputs are project basics: expected jobs and wages by phase, capital investment, construction costs and timeline, and for development projects, the program mix — square footage, units, hotel keys, projected sales. We handle the economic data, multipliers, and local tax structures. Most clients are surprised how quickly a credible model comes together once those basics exist.
How are impact studies used in incentive negotiations?
They're the other side of the ledger. Jurisdictions justify incentives by the economic and fiscal return a project delivers, so a credible independent study strengthens the ask and speeds approval. On the public side, the same analysis tells a community what an incentive is actually buying — which is exactly how our Development Impact Model is used.
Go Deeper
Related Services
Need numbers that hold up?
Tell us about the project and the audience it has to convince. We'll build the analysis that survives the toughest room it will ever be presented in.