Milken Institute’s 2016 Best-Performing Large Cities:
In a ranking of the 200 largest MSAs, the Memphis metro ranks #149. That was a significant move up the list from 2015 when the region ranked #182, a change of 33 spots, which places Memphis in the top 20 cities with highest jumps.
Memphis MSA’s most impressive gains were in high-tech, particularly in GDP growth from 2014-15 where it ranked #20.
Here are other relevant cities’ rankings:
#1 – San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
#2 – Austin-Round Rock
#6 – Raleigh
#7 – Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin
#12 – Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
#21 – Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
#24 – San Antonio-New Braunfels
#39 – Jacksonville
#57 – Louisville/Jefferson County
#80 – Knoxville
#84 – Cincinnati
#87 – Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson
#92 – Kansas City
#101 – Chattanooga
#103 – Oklahoma City
#107 – Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
#111 – Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia
#128 – St. Louis
#132 – Tulsa
#149 – Memphis, TN-MS-AR
#150 – Pittsburgh
#151 – Cleveland-Elyria
#162 – Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis
#163 – Jackson, MS
#173 – Birmingham-Hoover
#177 – Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls
#188 – Syracuse
#169 – Rochester, NY
#200 – Shreveport-Bossier City
Memphis MSA’s Ranking by Factors:
#136 – Jobs growth (2010-15)
#123 – Jobs growth (2014-15)
#155 – Wage growth (2009-14)
#168 – Wage growth (2013-14)
#168 – Short-term jobs growth (2015-2016)
#48 – High tech GDP growth (2010-15)
#20 – High-tech GDP growth (2014-15)
#142 – High-tech GDP concentration (2015)
#115 – Number of high-tech industrials with LQ>=1 (2015)
Note: The Milken Institute’s Best-Performing Cities Index provides an objective benchmark for examining the underlying factors and identifying unique characteristics of economic growth in metropolitan areas. The index uses a fact-based set of metrics such as job creation, wage gains, and technology developments to evaluate the relative growth of metro areas.
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I am just so tired of seeing rankings where Memphis is always ranked near the rock bottom of just about everything.
This data can’t be refuted or glossed over. It just shows that Memphis pretty much sucks at everything. Nobody in leadership positions (political or otherwise) ever seems to get results to turn the negative tide.
I am wondering if Detroit also jumped up as well as passed us.
I think we in Memphis are much worse off than Detroit. They have a much bigger regional population with many more industries, corporates and educational institutions like in Ann Arbor. We are a crime and poverty pocket with a lot of warehouses and not much more.
Memphis has been rapidly declining for many years. Now we are in a free fall of decline.
Aaron: Detroit MSA is #155.