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I must have missed something but Orlando has one of the worst job markets of any of the largest 50 metro areas in the country because of too heavy of a reliance on hospitality/tourism. Charlotte is somewhat better off. Their unemployment rates have been dropping but are still hovering near 12% and may increase later this year. Washington D.C. metro with a truly diversified economy naturally has the best job market in the country and has maintained its high real estate values.
Quote:
Originally Posted by adavi215
Allow me to say this, Charlotte is way more than a one trick pony. And for that matter so is Orlando. Orlando has a thriving high tech sector and research. Charlotte is revitalizing itself as a regional energy hub as well as revamping more research via the CRI institute at UNCC. Wholesale trading is big too in Charlotte. And for everybody who keeps on bringing up banking, it only accounts for 10% of its GDP. So if that went away, Charlotte's GDP would still be $106 billion.
I must have missed something but Orlando has one of the worst job markets of any of the largest 50 metro areas in the country because of too heavy of a reliance on hospitality/tourism. Charlotte is somewhat better off. Their unemployment rates have been dropping but are still hovering near 12% and may increase later this year. Washington D.C. metro with a truly diversified economy naturally has the best job market in the country and has maintained its high real estate values.
Orlando's unemployment rate is the same as Charlottes. Orlando is doing a great job diversifying its economy away from tourism..
Wikipedia:
Orlando is a major industrial and hi-tech center. The metro area has a $13.4 billion technology industry employing 53,000 people; and is a nationally recognized cluster of innovation in digital media, agricultural technology, aviation, aerospace, and software design. More than 150 international companies, representing approximately 20 countries, have facilities in Metro Orlando.
Orlando has the 7th largest research park in the country, Central Florida Research Park, with over 1,025 acres. It is home to over 120 companies, employs more than 8,500 people, and is the hub of the nation’s military simulation and training programs. Metro Orlando is home to the simulation procurement commands for the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
The convention industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet (200,000 m²) of exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the United States.[
Orlando's unemployment rate is the same as Charlottes. Orlando is doing a great job diversifying its economy away from tourism..
Wikipedia:
Orlando is a major industrial and hi-tech center. The metro area has a $13.4 billion technology industry employing 53,000 people; and is a nationally recognized cluster of innovation in digital media, agricultural technology, aviation, aerospace, and software design. More than 150 international companies, representing approximately 20 countries, have facilities in Metro Orlando.
Orlando has the 7th largest research park in the country, Central Florida Research Park, with over 1,025 acres. It is home to over 120 companies, employs more than 8,500 people, and is the hub of the nation’s military simulation and training programs. Metro Orlando is home to the simulation procurement commands for the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
The convention industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet (200,000 m²) of exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the United States.[
This is the information I was alluding to. Thanks.
Atlanta is one of eight U.S. cities classified as a "beta world city" by a 2008 study at Loughborough University,[92] and ranks fourth in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind New York City, Houston, and Dallas.[93] Several major national and international companies are headquartered in Atlanta or its nearby suburbs, including three Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, and United Parcel Service in adjacent Sandy Springs. The headquarters of AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), the second largest mobile phone service provider in the United States, is located near Lenox Square.[94] Newell Rubbermaid is one of the most recent companies to relocate to the metro area; in October 2006, it announced plans to move its headquarters to Sandy Springs.[95] Other headquarters for some major companies in Atlanta and around the metro area include Arby's, Chick-fil-A, Earthlink, Equifax, Gentiva Health Services, Georgia-Pacific, Oxford Industries, RaceTrac Petroleum, Southern Company, SunTrust Banks, Mirant, and Waffle House. In early June 2009, NCR Corporation announced that they will relocate its headquarters to the nearby suburb of Duluth, Georgia.[96] First Data is also a large corporation who announced in August 2009 that they would move its headquarters to Sandy Springs.[97] Over 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. As of 2006 Atlanta Metropolitan Area ranks as the 10th largest cybercity (high-tech center) in the US, with 126,700 high-tech jobs.[98]
Delta Air Lines is the city's largest employer and the metro area's third largest.[99] Delta operates one of the world's largest airline hubs at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and, together with the hub of competing carrier AirTran Airways, has helped make Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, both in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft operations. The airport, since its construction in the 1950s, has served as a key engine of Atlanta's economic growth.[100]
Atlanta has a sizable financial sector. SunTrust Banks, the seventh largest bank by asset holdings in the United States,[101] has its home office on Peachtree Street in downtown.[102] The Federal Reserve System has a district headquarters in Atlanta; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which oversees much of the deep South, relocated from downtown to midtown in 2001.[103] Wachovia announced plans in August 2006 to place its new credit-card division in Atlanta,[104] and city, state and civic leaders harbor long-term hopes of having the city serve as the home of the secretariat of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas.[105]
Atlanta is also home to a growing Biotechnology sector, gaining recognition through such events as the 2009 BIO International Convention.[106]
The World of Coca-Cola museum reopened at a new location near the Georgia Aquarium on May 26, 2007.
Federal Reserve Bank in Midtown Atlanta.The auto manufacturing sector in metropolitan Atlanta has suffered setbacks recently, including the planned closure of the General Motors Doraville Assembly plant in 2008, and the shutdown of Ford Motor Company's Atlanta Assembly plant in Hapeville in 2006. Kia, however, has broken ground on a new assembly plant near West Point, Georgia.[107]
The city is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System media empire in Atlanta, where he bought a UHF station that eventually became WTBS. Turner established the headquarters of the Cable News Network at CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels Рthe Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, Turner South, Turner Classic Movies, CNN International, CNN en Espa̱ol, HLN, and CNN Airport Network Рcentered their operations in Atlanta as well (Turner South has since been sold). Turner Broadcasting is a division of Time Warner. The Weather Channel, owned by a consortium of NBC Universal, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital, has its offices in the nearby suburb of Marietta.
Cox Enterprises, a privately held company controlled by James C. Kennedy, his sister Blair Parry-Okeden and their aunt Anne Cox Chambers, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta; it is headquartered in the city of Sandy Springs.[108][109] Its Cox Communications division, headquartered in unincorporated DeKalb County,[110] is the third-largest cable television service provider in the United States;[111] the company also publishes over a dozen daily newspapers in the United States, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. WSB – the flagship station of Cox Radio – was the first AM radio station in the South.[citation needed]
Unincorporated DeKalb County is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adjacent to Emory University, with a staff of nearly 15,000 (including 6,000 contractors and 840 Commissioned Corps officers) in 170 occupations, including: engineers, entomologists, epidemiologists, biologists, physicians, veterinarians, behavioral scientists, nurses, medical technologists, economists, health communicators, toxicologists, chemists, computer scientists, and statisticians. Headquartered in DeKalb County, CDC has 10 other offices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In addition, CDC staff are located in local health agencies, quarantine/border health offices at ports of entry, and 45 countries around the world. Originally established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, its primary function was to combat malaria, the deep southeast being the heart of the U.S. malaria zone at the time.[citation needed]
Atlanta is the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II.
^Good for Atlanta. We already knew it was tier one, so my vote goes for Tampa, Charlotte, and Orlando phasing out of 2nd tier status in the not too distant future, next 10-20 years maybe.
^Good for Atlanta. We already knew it was tier one, so my vote goes for Tampa, Charlotte, and Orlando phasing out of 2nd tier status in the not too distant future, next 10-20 years maybe.
For some reason people began to post the Wikipedia entry for Orlando's economy because I called it a "one trick pony" so I just thought I would post the one for Atlanta to demonstrate what I believe to be a truly diversified economy and culture. What it means to be a one trick pony is not that there are not other economic sectors in a metropolitan area but it means that the decline or elimination of one sector of the economy can reverse the fortunes of a city. In the midwest, Chicago and Detroit were the largest cities. Detroit had many industries but when the automobile industry declined so did the entire city. Chicago, which is diversified, has remained fairly stable. If you look at this Forbes list of the 10 best and worst job markets you can see that those with better markets tend not to rely on one major industry.
I'm not sure where the discussion turned but I think all of the cities on the original list could be considered "second tier" then places such as Little Rock, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge, Lexington K.Y., Knoxville, Chattanooga, etc. could be considered "third tier". My original assertion was that Charlotte had the best potential to move up to being a first tier city.
Dallas, Houston, Miami...not a part of the American South.
Primate City of the American South: Atlanta
ummmm, yeah they are actually. This has been debated and rehashed over and over so let's just let it be what it is. Texas and Florida are a part of the south. Maybe not culturally in your mind but regardless they are.
For some reason people began to post the Wikipedia entry for Orlando's economy because I called it a "one trick pony" so I just thought I would post the one for Atlanta to demonstrate what I believe to be a truly diversified economy and culture. What it means to be a one trick pony is not that there are not other economic sectors in a metropolitan area but it means that the decline or elimination of one sector of the economy can reverse the fortunes of a city. In the midwest, Chicago and Detroit were the largest cities. Detroit had many industries but when the automobile industry declined so did the entire city. Chicago, which is diversified, has remained fairly stable. If you look at this Forbes list of the 10 best and worst job markets you can see that those with better markets tend not to rely on one major industry.
I'm not sure where the discussion turned but I think all of the cities on the original list could be considered "second tier" then places such as Little Rock, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge, Lexington K.Y., Knoxville, Chattanooga, etc. could be considered "third tier". My original assertion was that Charlotte had the best potential to move up to being a first tier city.
I understand your points 100% and your point about Detroit is well taken. Charlotte without Banking and Orlando without tourism would hang on (like Detroit) but it would be hurting way worse than a place with a more diversified economy like Atl.
My only disagreement is that I see more similarities (outside of economy) between places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Tampa with Atlanta than I do with Raleigh, Louisville, Memphis, Jacksonville, or even Nashville. Clt, Orl, Tpa are all booming metropolises over 2 million people strong. They even feel bigger than they are due to place like Charlotte and Orlando having disproportionately busy airports for metros their size and a strong pull outside of their region. Those same three also seem to command more widespread name recognition and international appeal than do the others on the list.
I feel like Orlando, Tampa, and Charlotte are the true 2nd tiers of the SE and the others like Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Raleigh are 2nd tier minus or even 3rd tier. The list you gave that has Tallahassee, Knoxville, and Baton Rouge should be considered 3rd tier minus or 4th tier at best since we're talking metros under 1 million that have limited appeal.
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Economy in the Toilet?
