map of c.o.l.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Surprised with how low Providence Metro and Raleigh/Durham are.

Ugh I'm not surprised, unfortunately. I've lived it. I grew up in Metro Providence (Fall River/New Bedford area) and my family and friends are still there. I commuted to work in Boston for a while from the area because it was so much cheaper on all fronts. The commute was brutal and I eventually sucked it up and moved to Boston (Somerville). I'm down there a lot on weekends and it's clear as day - everything from rent, groceries, restaurants, a beer at a bar, etc. is cheaper in metro PVD. Items at two different Target stores 15 miles apart may be priced significantly different because one's in the Boston market and one's in PVD (I've experienced this).

I actually lived in a typical New England 3 decker in Somerville a few years ago. My landlord bought the place for $1.5 million in '17 and it's estimated at nearly $1.7 now. For Comparison, a similar 3 decker in Fall River (Metro PVD) sold in '14 for $193k and is currently worth under $300k. There are other factors at play that impact value, but you're talking about essentially the same buildings, but one is not even 20% of the value of the other. That's drastic.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

Why does that surprise you?

For the record, the Providence, RI metropolitan area is among the most economically depressed in the entire nation, and unfortunately, the metropolitan area has held this distinction for many decades. In fact, economists have dubbed the Providence, RI metropolitan area as a "FILO" economy: "First In, Last Out" of a recession. In short, the poor economic growth rates and chronically high unemployment rates in Rhode Island are largely due to the state's overall failure to attract new industry and, ultimately, diversify its economic base following the departure of the manufacturing industry over 40 years ago.

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

Honestly, that surprises me. It goes to show how little I know about Providence. I always thought of it is a mini-Boston in most regards, including economy.

This is by no means a defense of Rhode Island's economy which is not great. But the economic trouble in metro Providence and RI isn't as outwardly visible as one might expect when reading articles like that which is why it might surprise people. A huge chunk of metro Providence is made up of old mill cities and towns that have significant populations and no discernible economic output due to never having recovered from the exodus of industry. I'm talking about places like Pawtucket, New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro, Cumberland, Woonsocket, Central Falls, etc. In terms of population, that's good for a quarter or more of the metro area. The two biggest of the bunch (Fall River and New Bedford) aren't even in RI.

So when you visit Providence itself and walk around the city center, Federal Hill, the east side, etc., it doesn't look or feel economically depressed. It looks and feels quite vibrant and active which is why it's consistantly ranked as one of the best cities to visit. You have an active concentration of offices, a thriving retail and restaurant scene, high end condos and residents, lots of hotels that are always full, students and faculty from some of the nation's most elite universities, and plenty of foot traffic. So once could be forgiven for thinking of it as a mini-Boston. It just happens to be weighed down by quite a bit of dead weight that does hurt the economy (and wages, and drag down COL).