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POLICOM specializes in studying the
dynamics of local economies. From its research, it determines if an area is
growing or declining, what is causing this to happen, and offers ideas and
solutions to communities to improve the situation.
To create its studies, POLICOM annually
examines and measures the 366 Metropolitan and 574 Micropolitan areas in the
United States when new data is released. It calculates growth rates,
consistency trends, industry averages, and other factors for each area. More
than one hundred economic elements are measured for multiple time periods.
For most of the economic issues, POLICOM ranks the areas to determine
relative improvement or decline. When the “smoke clears,” each area is
ranked for more than 1,000 sectors or time periods.
One source of data used is the Regional
Economic Information System (REIS) data published by the Bureau of Economic
Analysis, US Department of Commerce. This is an extremely comprehensive data
set and is gleaned from administrative records created by multiple
government agencies. Data for 2007 was released in April, 2009.
POLICOM is happy to share with you the
“Top Ten” ranked Metropolitan and Micropolitan areas for
several
issues using REIS data.
The Average Annual Growth Rate was
calculated by determining the percentage increase for the five year period
from 2003 through 2007 (2002 base year) and averaging the annual amount. The
results are under the column 2003-2007. The actual amount for 2007 is shown
and ranked.
Many times smaller areas will have the
highest growth percentage. If an area has 10,000 jobs and it adds 1,000, it
has a 10% gain.
However,
a large area which has 1,000,000 jobs and adds 90,000 jobs only had a 9%
gain. Basically it is typically very hard for
large areas to have high growth percentages.
The actual amount for 2007 is provided so
you can see if the growth rate might be the result of being “small.”
|
Population |
2003-2007 |
|
2007 |
|
|
Metropolitan Areas |
AAI |
Rank |
Actual |
Rank |
|
Palm Coast, FL (MSA) |
9.0% |
1 |
88,178 |
353 |
|
St. George, UT (MSA) |
6.1% |
2 |
133,447 |
280 |
|
Provo-Orem, UT (MSA) |
5.2% |
3 |
522,831 |
96 |
|
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL (MSA) |
4.4% |
4 |
588,129 |
85 |
|
Bend, OR (MSA) |
4.2% |
5 |
153,799 |
250 |
|
Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle
Beach-Conway, SC (MSA) |
3.9% |
6 |
249,711 |
176 |
|
Raleigh-Cary, NC (MSA) |
3.9% |
7 |
1,043,961 |
50 |
|
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV (MSA) |
3.8% |
8 |
1,827,655 |
30 |
|
Ocala, FL (MSA) |
3.6% |
9 |
324,093 |
147 |
|
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (MSA) |
3.6% |
10 |
4,165,921 |
13 |
The chart for Population is a good
example. Palm Coast had the fastest growth rate in Population but is a very
small area, ranking 353rd among the 366 Metropolitan areas. More impressive
for their growth rates are Las Vegas, Raleigh, and Phoenix as they are large
areas.
The rankings are available via a PDF file
which includes 20 pages. To
download or view the "Top Ten Rankings,"
CLICK HERE.
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