Cities That Have Decent Economies Even Though The Overall Regions They're In Are Struggling (best cities, unemployment rate)

[cdc1211]

Are there any cities that are doing surprising okay economically even though the general region is not?

I was thinking maybe college towns or state capitals? Any others?

[censusdata]

Lexington KY fits the bill. It's growing at 16% (600k to 700k) so far this decade while the state as a whole has only grown 6%. Lex has been draining the rest of the state for its best educated and highest paid people for decades now. Just to the east is the poorest region in North American (Eastern Kentucky), a place that has half the average income Lex and 7 fewer years of life expectancy.

[Thomas R.]

Kennewick-Pasco-Richland metro seems to have significantly lower unemployment than Washington's average. Columbia, Missouri is like 2% below Missouri's average. Morgantown looks to be over 2% below West Virginia's average. Ithaca seems to be doing about 2% better than New York's average. Although Texas isn't doing that bad Amarillo and Midland were like 2.5% below the state average for unemployment. Perhaps surprising, but Jackson seems to have noticeably lower unemployment than Mississippi's average. The figures I'm using are for August.

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas
Unemployment Rates for States

Of the states in the bottom five for unemployment their "best cities" seem to be as following.

California - Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta at 8.9%.

Florida - Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin at 8%.

Michigan - Ann Arbor at 8.8%.

Nevada & Rhode Island - Every metro in these two states seem to have double digit unemployment or at least be over the national average so I'm going to include the sixth and eighth worse off. (South Carolina also seems to have no metro below US average, if I read it right)

Indiana - Bloomington at 8.2%.

Oregon - Corvallis at 7.3%.

[Gnutella]

Pittsburgh has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, especially within the last 10 years, and people are finally beginning to notice. With that said, rural western Pennsylvania is still in bad shape, and many small towns have no hope, particularly those that are neither close to Pittsburgh nor located on an Interstate highway.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Pittsburgh has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, especially within the last 10 years, and people are finally beginning to notice. With that said, rural western Pennsylvania is still in bad shape, and many small towns have no hope, particularly those that are neither close to Pittsburgh nor located on an Interstate highway.

Towns like Bradford, Uniontown, Oil City, etc correct?

[Gnutella]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Towns like Bradford, Uniontown, Oil City, etc correct?

Among others. You might even be able to include Johnstown on such a list, even though it's a bit larger. Towns like Butler, Washington, Greensburg, Latrobe and New Castle could become nice satellite cities with a little bit of T.L.C. Kittanning and Beaver Falls could go either way, and the only thing saving Indiana is IUP. Altoona might be salvageable thanks to I-99, plus its proximity to State College.

[psulions2007]

Indianapolis and Columbus are both doing extremely well.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by psulions2007

Indianapolis and Columbus are both doing extremely well.

How so? Both metro counties lost a significant percentage of jobs since 2000.

[Chriscross309]

Morgantown, WV

of course a college town

[GraniteStater]

I would also say Des Moines. Most areas south of that metro are really struggling.