MNS | June 1, 2011
[Milwaukee…] A new study show’s Wisconsin’s largest metro-area slid 28 spots in a national ranking of economic strength.The Milwaukee area’s economy continued its four year economic slide, enduring its most precipitous slide in the history of the study. The Milwaukee metro area, slid from 66th in 2010 to 94th this year. As recently as 2008, the Milwaukee metro area ranked 35th in the Country.
“The rankings do not reflect the latest ‘hotspot’ or boom town, but the areas which have the best economic foundation,” said William Fruth, POLICOM’s president. “While most communities have slowed or declined during this recession, the strongest areas have been able to weather the storm.”
POLICOM is an independent economics research firm located in Palm City, Florida, which specializes in studying the dynamics of local economies. The firm just released their rankings of the economic strength of the nation’s 366 metropolitan statistical areas.
POLITICOM addresses the condition of an economy from the viewpoint of its impact upon the “standard of living” of the people who live and work in an area. The research firm 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.
The economic strength rankings are created so POLICOM can study the characteristics of strong and weak economies. The highest ranked areas have had rapid, consistent growth in both size and quality for an extended period of time. The lowest ranked areas have been in volatile decline for an extended period of time.
The Washington, DC metropolitan area ranked #1 in the study. With the federal government as its economic anchor, it has been virtually immune to the national recession.
2011 Ten Strongest among 366 Metropolitan Areas
1 Washington-Arlington, VA
2 Salt Lake City, UT
3 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
4 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
5 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
6 Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
7 Olympia, W A
8 Nashville, TN
9 Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO
10 Sioux Falls, SD
The study measures 23 different economic factors over a twenty-year period to create the rankings. The formulas determine how an economy has behaved over an extended period of time. Data stretching from 1990 to 2009 was used for this study.
POLICOM has created economic strength rankings for all Metropolitan Statistical Areas since 1996 and all Micropolitan Statistical Areas since they were created in 2002. The Office of Management and Budget, as a result of the 2000 census, created new definitions for the Metropolitan Statistical Areas and established the Micropolitan Areas.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000, plus adjacent territory (counties) which have a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. They must have at minimum one county but most often include several counties.