A few years ago, Zach Hoyt, local attorney, wrote a blog post here that expressed his concern about the slow growth of the Memphis MSA GDP (Gross Domestic Product), pointing out that Memphis ranking was dropping when compared to Birmingham, Little Rock, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and St. Louis.
As he pointed out, Memphis was #2 in 2001, but it slid to #3 by 2005, #6 by 2010, and last place in 2013 and 2014.
It led us to wonder if Memphis improved its competitive position with the 2016 GDP amounts. Our check showed that Memphis MSA has eased into seventh place ahead of Little Rock but continues to lose ground with those at the top.
Our GDP has shown steady, if unexciting, levels of growth. In the past five years, it has done better than New Orleans and Little Rock. Unfortunately, that is less than half of the growth in Louisville and Nashville and behind Oklahoma City, Birmingham, and St. Louis.
Essentially, Memphis is running in place, which means that we should not be surprised that we are generally remaining in the same relative position. Meanwhile, many of our competitors have recorded impressive bursts of growth that are needed here if we are to catapult our community to a better economic future.
Looking only at Tennessee cities, Memphis is second to Nashville in per capita GDP.
Here’s the most recent per capita GDPs for the metro areas used by Mr. Hoyt followed by the total amount of that metro’s GDP:
$59,316 – Nashville MSA ($124.2 billion)
$53,245 – New Orleans MSA ($77.2 billion)
$51,166 – Louisville MSA ($75 billion)
$50,129 – St. Louis MSA ($159.9 billion)
$48,405 – Birmingham MSA ($62.7 billion)
$47,819 – Oklahoma City MSA (70.2 billion)
$46,269 – Memphis MSA ($71.5 billion)
$46,131 – Little Rock MSA ($37.8 billion)
The following are GDP comparisons for Tennessee MSAs:
$59,316 – Nashville MSA ($124.2 billion)
$46,269 – Memphis MSA ($71.5 billion)
$41,267 – Jackson MSA ($5.3 billion)
$40,492 – Chattanooga MSA ($22.3 billion)
$40,068 – Knoxville MSA ($40.1 billion)
$33,613 – Clarksville MSA ($9.4 billion)
The per capita GDP for Tennessee is $43,688.
The following is the five-year growth in the GDP for metro areas monitored by The Memphis Economy website:
41.7 % – Nashville MSA
30.6% – Charlotte MSA
29.0% – Louisville MSA
26.8% – Jacksonville MSA
23.0% – Kansas City MSA
22.5% – Omaha MSA
19.8% – Indianapolis MSA
18.2% – Cincinnati MSA
16.3% – St. Louis MSA
15.8% – Oklahoma City MSA
12.8% – Greensboro MSA
12.6% – Memphis MSA
10.1% – Little Rock MSA
8.5% – Tulsa MSA
2.3% – New Orleans MSA
The following is the 10-year growth in the GDP for the metro areas monitored by the Memphis Economy website:
61.2% – Nashville MSA
42.8% – Louisville MSA
42.0% – Omaha MSA
39.0% – Charlotte MSA
38.2% – Indianapolis MSA
37.8% – Oklahoma City MSA
36.2% – Kansas City MSA
34.4% – Cincinnati MSA
33.3% – Tulsa MSA
29.2% – Little Rock MSA
29.0% – St. Louis MSA
27.3% – Greensboro MSA
25.2% – Birmingham MSA
21.8% – Jacksonville MSA
19% – Memphis MSA
8.9% – New Orleans MSA
***
Join us at the Smart City Memphis Facebook page for daily articles, reports, and commentaries relevant to Memphis.
These numbers clearly show how depressed the economy of Memphis really is and it’s the same story year after year.
This city pretty much lags at everything. 2018 will be even worse which should be no surprise to anyone.
Always the laggard.
But the statues are gone. Surely the economy must improve now?
Memphis is always at the rock bottom of everything.
Definitely a stagnant economy. There is no real growth, little economic development or jobs here but lots of crime. Depressing to see these statistics.
The well-known Misery Index ranks Memphis the worst city in the country.
New Orleans just named one of the “25 Best Places in the South” for corporate HQ relocation. New Orleans? Since Katina in ’05, NO has worked hard to develop a unique, cost effective HQ alternative. NO now has a vibrant tech scene (DXC Technology / HP) and population growth. Maybe we can get somebody in Memphis to benchmark that?
The stats for Nashville are nothing short of spectacular. That city has always been more progressive compared to Memphis but now it’s moved up to the big leagues over the past 10 years especially. Nashville has a wealthier, better educated population base. Many more corporates are headquartered and based there and the tourism and convention market is huge much bigger than here. I read Nashville has now surpassed New Orleans in tourism and meetings. I’d not be surprised if it is picked as the second headquarters city of Amazon since they already have a large presence there.
Speaking of stats as the hits just keep on coming, Waze’s 2016 Driver Satisfaction Index shows Memphis among the worst in the nation, only ahead of Honolulu and on par with Toluca, Mexico, Vila Velha, Brazil and San Diego, CA. Can’t wait to see their 2017 data. Memphis’ score 5.47 (10 best, 1 worst)…Nashville at 7.32. Greensboro, NC #1 US at 8.24.
Well, I wanted to write a reply that would make everyone feel better. So I looked up compensation per job (includes benefits) for the metropolitan areas in Tennessee. Well, as you can see below, you’ll just stay depressed.
Compensation per Job in Metro area
Wages, Salaries + Employer/Gov’t Benefits
2008-16
2008 2016 Growth
US Metro Portion $58,452 $68,636 17.4%
Nashville $52,974 $63,470 19.8%
% of national metro 90.6% 92.5%
Memphis $52,263 $60,500 15.8%
% of national metro 89.4% 88.1%
Jackson $44,662 $51,002 14.2%
% of national metro 76.4% 74.3%
Chattanooga $46,270 $56,551 22.2%
% of national metro 79.2% 82.4%
Knoxville $47,727 $57,670 20.8%
% of national metro 81.7% 84.0%
Clarksville $52,903 $57,226 8.2%
% of national metro 90.5% 83.4%
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis
David Ciscel. No matter how we try to spin the constant negative news about the local economy, the bottom line is that metro Memphis is iperhaps the least desirable city in the whole country for growth, jobs, income, education, health and life quality of its citizens. This won’t change during most people’s lifetimes because we are already too far gone. Sad but true. Happy New Year!