Metro Monitor 2020 tracks the inclusive economic growth performance of the 192 largest U.S. metro areas, which together are home to 77% of the nation’s population and contribute 85% of the nation’s GDP. This year’s edition of the Metro Monitor analyzes two time periods: from 2008 to 2018, which indicates how metro areas have fared since the onset of the Great Recession; and from 2017 to 2018, the latest year of data available across all indicators.

With an expanded set of metro areas, Metro Monitor 2020 for the first time categorizes metro areas into three classes based on size: very large metro areas (populations over 1 million, 53 total), large metro areas (populations between 500,000 and 1 million, 56 total), and midsized metro areas (populations between 250,000 and 500,000, 83 total). Metro areas are ranked on their performance in the five Metro Monitor dimensions within their size class.

Metro Monitor 2020 also introduces a new dimension, geographic inclusion, which measures the extent to which regional changes in inclusion expand or narrow differences between the most advantaged and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Definitions of each economic indicator are available in the dashboard below.