Top 100 US metros ranked by income growth

[BTinSF]

Here's the complete rankings (Plus data and methodology): http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/92.html

The top 10 are:

1. Birmingham, Alabama

2. Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticutt

3. San Diego, California

4. Baltimore, Maryland

5. Charleston, South Carolina

6. Boston, Massachusettes

7. San Francisco-Oakland, California

8. Nashville, Tennessee

9. Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Florida

10. Madison, Wisconsin

11. Omaha, Nebraska

12. El Paso, Texas

13. Jackson, Mississippi

14. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, California

15. Houston, Texas

Note--This is ranking by income growth, not absolute income. In terms of absolute per capita income, Bridgeport-Stamford (home of Greenwich and the hedge fund) it way tops @ $67,269 and San Francisco-Oakland is a distant second @ $52, 543. #20 grower San Jose is third @ $50,468.

By the way, #100 (again, for growth rate) is--no surprise--New Orleans. #99 is Stockton, California.

[Evergrey]

interesting that No. 90 is Atlanta... the Bottom 10 seems to be dominated by 2nd-tier Ohio (Cleveland just misses at #89) and California's Central Valley.

[MasonsInquiries]

baltimore's #4. hmmmmm......interesting. i would have never known

[Red UM Rebel]

The person that did this ranking has never been to Jackson obviously, yuck what a place.....

[BTinSF]

^^^They aren't ranked by being nice. And the smaller places have an advantage in that it doesn't take too much to create a sudden boost in income. Does Jackson have a new factory or business investment of some sort?

Re Baltimore, the article accompanying the list says: "The Baltimore area has experienced steady (though unexciting) increases in population and employment. But its record of income growth is much more impressive, reflecting the expansion of high-tech industries in suburban Baltimore. PCI is now over $40,000 for the first time."

[alleystreetindustry]

haah. i would think all the rich white folks moving into atlanta would give us a boost. only kidding.

[Red UM Rebel]

I think it is due to the fact that the area in North Jackson and East Jackson are exploding. What I do not understand though is that those places are not only not in Jackson but are in different counties all together and by Jackson standards aren't even considered metro.

[LMich]

How far would north and east Jackson have to be away from the city to not be considered part of the metro? lol Heck, Jackson MSA consists of Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Copiah, and Simpson counties. Are you going to tell me that these areas you speak off are even outside of that?

[KB0679]

Yay Charleston!

[Red UM Rebel]

Originally Posted by LMich

How far would north and east Jackson have to be away from the city to not be considered part of the metro? lol Heck, Jackson MSA consists of Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Copiah, and Simpson counties. Are you going to tell me that these areas you speak off are even outside of that?

I am SURE they counted those areas, but Mississippians really do not count that as "part" of Jackson area. People from those areas do not say they are from Jackson, they say they are from Brandon, Madison, Flowood, Richland, Ridgeland, or the Reservoir. Most of those are separately incorporated. Simpson and Copiah counties are over thirty minutes from metro so that is ridiculous. If they included that much area, I do know how accurate this list is anyway.

[BTinSF]

^^^I believe they used the MSAs the Federal Government uses. If you don't agree with what's included, blame the Feds. I do know that every time that issue comes up, the Bay Area crowd grouses about San Jose being in a separate MSA from SF-Oakland. We all have our issues with the scheme, but I like the consistency of using them rather than people creating their own "metros" for these things since that would allow all sorts of manipulation.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Here's the complete rankings (Plus data and methodology): http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/92.html

Note--This is ranking by income growth, not absolute income. In terms of absolute per capita income, Bridgeport-Stamford (home of Greenwich and the hedge fund) it way tops @ $67,269 and San Francisco-Oakland is a distant second @ $52, 543. #20 grower San Jose is third @ $50,468.

A few things...

If you split SF-Oakland to the way it was prior to 2001..

Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Division 45,290
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division 63,143

Bridgeport-Stamford's advantage isnt that great considering how The San Francisco submetro has no racial majority, and 70% of all the households in the west bay are headed by someone who is foreign born.

Also,

2000-2001
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (MSA) -3.2
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) -7.4

The Bay Area's economy has quietly regained a lot of the momentum lost in the dot com implosion. Even most locals are unaware that we once again have one of the most rapidly growing economies in the nation-too many of us still seem to think that we are still in in decline.

Here are some related stats,
Top 25 US Metros, Per Capita Income

14860 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT (MSA) 67,269
41860 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (MSA) 52,543
41940 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) 50,468
34940 Naples-Marco Island, FL (MSA) 49,492
47900 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA) 48,697
14460 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH (MSA) 47,168
42680 Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL (MSA) 46,219
45940 Trenton-Ewing, NJ (MSA) 45,923
14500 Boulder, CO (MSA) 45,849
35620 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA (MSA) 45,268
12700 Barnstable Town, MA (MSA) 43,992
34900 Napa, CA (MSA) 43,669
42100 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA (MSA) 42,643
19740 Denver-Aurora, CO (MSA) 42,369
25540 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT (MSA) 42,369
33460 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (MSA) 42,091
42660 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (MSA) 41,608
42260 Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL (MSA) 41,577
16220 Casper, WY (MSA) 41,462
12580 Baltimore-Towson, MD (MSA) 41,320
39900 Reno-Sparks, NV (MSA) 41,284
33260 Midland, TX (MSA) 40,855
37980 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (MSA) 40,727
41740 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA (MSA) 40,569
42060 Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA (MSA) 40,486

Total Personal Income, MSAs(000s)
35620 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA (MSA) 851,660,378
31100 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA (MSA) 475,262,940
16980 Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI (MSA) 367,956,926
47900 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA) 255,739,973
37980 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (MSA) 236,467,223
41860 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (MSA) 218,474,926
19100 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (MSA) 216,667,294
14460 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH (MSA) 209,846,749
26420 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX (MSA) 209,817,787
33100 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL (MSA) 203,464,514


Total Personal Income, CSAs(000s)
89408 New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA (CSA) 998,058,847
89348 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA (CSA) 611,476,057
89176 Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI (CSA) 373,899,791
89548 Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV (CSA) 373,351,624
89488 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA (CSA) 356,428,782
89148 Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH (CSA) 318,601,897
89428 Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD (CSA) 253,314,068
89206 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (CSA) 225,909,036
89288 Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX (CSA) 211,893,460
89220 Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI (CSA) 198,561,020
89122 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL (CSA) 181,533,228

[DBR96A]

Among "Rust Belt" cities, Pittsburgh has the highest income growth rate, and the fourth-highest per capita income (Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit). Milwaukee probably benefits from its close proximity to Chicago, but Pittsburgh seems like an oasis in the middle of an income-growth desert. Upstate New York lags badly in terms of income growth, and Ohio suffers except for Cincinnati and Columbus, which are both about mid-pack --- yet Pittsburgh is in the top 20. I wonder what makes Pittsburgh so much better off than its surrounding regions?

[alon504]

I get confused by these stats....how can New Orleans be last when a majority of our public housing citizens are gone? I heard last week on the news that somebody else said we were in the top 5 and that the average "household," income is over $53,000, now in New Orleans. I know we are "average" citizens of this city that don't even own...we rent and our household income is $94,500, and we are FAR from feeling even halfway wealthy. I don't buy into these stats. You could barely afford to live in the streets making $20000.00 in New Orleans. I know no one that makes that kind of ludicrious income. McDonald's employees in New Orleans start at $13.00 an hour. I don't buy it.

[Evergrey]

The problem with moving threads about US cities to the "United States" subforum is that NOBODY reads the "United States" subforum.

[Jersey Mentality]

^ Exactly

[Front_Range_Guy]

LOL. I just learned something new today. THERE'S A UNITED STATES SUBFORUM!?!

[tecmsu06]

Originally Posted by LMich

How far would north and east Jackson have to be away from the city to not be considered part of the metro? lol Heck, Jackson MSA consists of Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Copiah, and Simpson counties. Are you going to tell me that these areas you speak off are even outside of that?

the areas they are talking about are most likely Ridgeland/Madison/Canton (Madison County, very close to Jackson) or possibly Flowood/Brandon areas (Rankin County)... Heck, maybe Clinton (Hinds County)...

I'm almost positive they are talking about Madison/Ridgeland, though. I have many friends that area ( I go to school in MS) and those towns are growing, and are extremely wealthy.

[LMich]

It was a rhetorical question. I knew the areas he was talking about were in the government-defined metro area, regardless of what anyone feels should and shouldn't be considered part of the metro.

[tocoto]

With all the stats we see posted here it seems that at least for the largest US metros the CSA is the only way to get a realistic sense of comparison between metros. The MSA is almost meaningless even though it is widely used and accepted by many forumers.