The new Metro Monitor from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy program offers in-depth analysis of regional economic trends for the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas. The new data measure the performance of metropolitan economies in three ways: growth, prosperity, and inclusion. Data are available for three time periods: 2013-14; 2009-14; and a ten year span, 2004-14. Visit the interactive for complete rankings, trend charts, and a link to the report.
Below is a chart showing the top 10 metropolitan economies ranked for prosperity—defined as “the wealth and income produced by an economy on a per-worker and a per-capita basis”—for the five year period 2009-14:
| Prosperity (2009-14) |
Growth (2009-14) |
Inclusion (2009-14) |
|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 2 | 3 | 35 |
| Austin-Round Rock, TX | 3 | 2 | 60 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 4 | 22 | 5 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 5 | 7 | 44 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 6 | 48 | 25 |
| El Paso, TX | 7 | 24 | 58 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 8 | 17 | 18 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 9 | 8 | 22 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | 10 | 5 | 73 |
The lead author of the report, Senior Research Analyst Richard Shearer, said that “successful economic development strategies not only grow an economy but raise living standards for all of its residents.” Report co-authors include Senior Fellow Alan Berube, Senior Research Assistant John Ng, and Associate Fellow Alec Friedhoff.
See also “Moving beyond job growth,” by Amy Liu, Metropolitan Policy Program vice president and director, for her take on the relaunched Metro Monitor and how state and regional leaders can use it.
Visit the Metro Monitor to interact with all of the rankings and indicators.
Commentary
Top 10 metropolitan areas by change in prosperity
February 3, 2016