Miami: Why isn't this place as wealthy as its peers? (live, state)

[DANNYY]

It's been bothering me how Miami-Fort Lauderdale is known for wealth so much but it comes in short statistically on wealth. Mostly since I started my paper on it about 3 weeks ago and haven't come to an exact conclusion to finish it yet.

Is it just popularized media of the select few with major bank (wealth) in the region?

I don't get it. What's keeping Miami to not collectively compete with peers around the same size as it.
For comparisons sake it will have to be MSA since Miami doesn't have a CSA so to speak of.

Economic Output (GDP) by MSA 2010:
- New York City: $1.25 Trillion
- Los Angeles: $708 Billion
- Chicago: $520 Billion
- Houston: $407 Billion
- Washington DC: $396 Billion
- Dallas-Fort Worth: $384 Billion
- Philadelphia: $329 Billion
- San Francisco-Oakland: $306 Billion
- Boston: $297 Billion
- Atlanta: $262 Billion
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale: $257 (11th Largest Economic Output)
- Seattle: $217 Billion

Source: http://www.usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0110/charts.pdf

Population By MSA 2009:
- New York City: 19,069,796
- Los Angeles: 12,874,797
- Chicago: 9,580,567
- Dallas-Fort Worth: 6,447,615
- Philadelphia: 5,968,252
- Houston: 5,867,489
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale: 5,547,051 (7th Largest MSA)
- Washington DC: 5,476,241
- Atlanta: 5,475,213
- Boston: 4,588,680
- Detroit: 4,403,437
- Phoenix: 4,364,094
- San Francisco-Oakland: 4,317,853

Okay I am very well aware of the fact that economic output (GDP) is correlated to higher populations but still Miami lags behind Washington DC which has nearly the exact identical MSA population.

As in the more populated areas have the edge for having the higher economic output, thus the competitive edge of Los Angeles & Chicago above the Bay Area on both MSA & CSA level.

Miami however is the 7th largest MSA but the 11th largest economic output. It lags behind Boston which has 1 Million less people in MSA.
It lags behind San Francisco-Oakland which is 1.2 Million less in MSA.

Seattle MSA is only 3.4 Million compared to Miami's 5.5 Million but the difference in GDP is $257 Billion to Seattle's $217 Billion, which is exactly $40 Billion in difference for a difference in population of 2.1 Million people. That is ridiculous.

I don't get it.
Why is Miami not more competitive economically? I'm currently writing a paper on it which is due in a few hours. And this WAS the topic for my paper. The topic was Miami's eroding competitive edge in correlation to one unified economic region (MSA).

For example Washington DC, punches above its weight here. As do Boston & San Francisco-Oakland. Atlanta punches about its exact weight, as do Chicago & Los Angeles. Houston punches above its weight, Dallas-Fort Worth & Philadelphia punch in roughly their weight.

Then what's up with Miami? Why is it's economic output underwhelming for such a large region?

On my paper (for Urban planning class) so far I responded saying that possibly immigration could have a deterring effect on this, since Miami is the most foreign Metropolitan Area in the country with I believe 37% of its population being directly foreign born or so.

Anyone else want to chime in on this?

[californio sur]

Isn't Miami the most tourist-dependent city among the list? That is a vulnerable situation in bad economic times.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by californio sur

Isn't Miami the most tourist-dependent city among the list? That is a vulnerable situation in bad economic times.

Even in good economic times, a tourism focused economy is not the path to high GDP output.

Dannyy, one thing I could think of that could explain it is that perhaps Miami's industrial base is tiny in comparison to the rest of it's economy and the other cities on the list. It's just a guess though as I didn't look this up.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by californio sur

Isn't Miami the most tourist-dependent city among the list? That is a vulnerable situation in bad economic times.

No the place has never had a high economic output at all compared to its peers in its given history in the last 20 years. And by peers I mean similar sized areas.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the recession at all. The fact that Detroit MSA is 4.3 Million people and an economic output of $200 Billion annually while being absolutely hit WAY MORE than Miami in this recession and only coming $57 Billion shorter than Miami while having 1.2 Million less people is illogical when thinking why Miami is falling this short.

My guess is immigration, or maybe low labor type of jobs. I live in a city that is strange, it has immigration and low labor type of jobs also, but its very affluent and wealthy. I just don't understand why Miami out of the first 15 cities (in population by MSA) in America is falling so short. And in my class we were assigned to "investigate" and draw a conclusion to put in hypothetical sense on how to get Miami's economic output to where its size is.

I got nothing because I don't know why in the first place its economic output is lagging. It is not the recession at all, if it was there would be at least 6 other areas lagging more than Miami, which isn't the case at all.

[Ohio248]

There are a number of reasons:

-Florida is a low-wage state, with weak unions and low public salaries.

-South Florida has a huge number of immigrants; and specifically immigrants from super-poor nations (Haiti, El Salvador, etc.)

-The biggest industry in South Florida is tourism, which is notoriously low-wage

-Lots of the South Florida wealth one sees is actually being made elsewhere, whether in NYC, in Latin America, or wherever

And since you brought up Detroit, it makes perfect sense to me that Metro Detroit is wealthier than South Florida. If you really travel around these areas, it seems apparent. Away from the South Florida glamour locales, it's a pretty modest place. And away from the slums of inner city Detroit, the Detroit metro area is still quite prosperous, with lots of high-paid union jobs and corporate positions.

I mean, what corporations are in South Florida? Burger King? GM, despite all its troubles, is still a beast. Even the blue collar guys at GM make big bucks. And for every one auto industry job, there are like six local supplier jobs. And there are tens of thousands of engineers in metro Detroit. Miami, while much more glamorous, doesn't have this type of economic base.

[oakparkdude]

In addition to all the factors mentioned above, Florida also has poor schools relative to most Northeast and Midwestern states, this leads to a less capable workforce which puts downward pressure on wages.

[tpk-nyc]

There's lots of money in Miami, but it's not "working" money but "spending" money. Miami is a destination for retirees, second-home snowbirds (from cities like New York), Latin American millionaires looking for a safe haven (with good medical care, banking, etc.), and vacationers looking to party. All of this is good for the service industry, but not much else.

For example, a lot of New Yorkers "live" in Miami for tax purposes, but do business in New York. They earn their money elsewhere. Miami is more like Phoenix than Dallas (a sunbelt city that has major corporations and generates significant economic activity).

[HtownLove]

DFW has a million more people than DC and 600K more than Houston, but Both DC and Houston top DFW.

Houston and DC are smaller (well Houston was) than Philly and their GDP is larger than DC.

Actually I don't think SF and Boston are punching over their weight, I just think that ATL, Phoenix and Detroit punch below their weight. Along with Miami, DFW and Philly. So Miami is in good company.

[oakparkdude]

Here's a chart of major metro counties ranked by college and graduate degrees per square mile. (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UnYG5zOkgE...y_counties.PNG)

Note how the Florida counties are all far down on the list. Now, granted there's a lot of caveats. Some of this degree density is a function of population density.

[Wonderful Jellal]

Miami lacks high value added industries (high-tech, medical centers..etc..) except in the international trade, so wages are lower.
But anyway with a good salary Miami is a paradise on Earth !