GDP figures for Indiana MSA's (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne: 2015, home, school)

[ColdAilment]

After searching high and low for current and accurate GDP figures on my home MSA of South Bend-Mishawaka-Niles I finally found a worthy list from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, some of the figures were quite surprising. While this list does contain over 300 MSA's in the country for the purpose of this thread I'm only going to list cities within Indiana.

I'll list them in order from highest to lowest:


2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 National Rank
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson 113,044 116,257 123,565 127,682 130,133 135,444 26

Fort Wayne 17,897 18,586 18,795 19,529 20,447 20,876 115

Evansville 17,512 17,220 17,081 17,066 17,110 16,933 143

Elkhart-Goshen 9,652 10,916 11,784 12,989 14,387 15,515 154


South Bend-Mishawaka-Niles 12,309 12,485 12,408 12,904 13,488 14,099 163

Lafayette-West Lafayette 8,735 8,963 9,093 9,415 9,706 10,007 201

Bloomington 6,412 6,384 6,192 6,397 6,654 6,905 250


Terre Haute 6,269 6,257 6,418 6,359 6,252 6,216 262

Muncie 3,434 3,648 3,673 3,690 3,763 3,765 360


The GDP data is in millions of dollars, so Indianapolis Metro is at 135.444 billion dollars, the 26th largest metro in the country. What strikes me as the most interesting is the Elkhart-Goshen area passing up South Bend-Mishawaka. I believe this is in large part due to the recovery and successes of the RV industry, they are at record high sales.

The other interesting figure to note is that Evansville is shrinking in GDP, and there seems to be some debate on exactly what encompasses the Evansville MSA. According to the Wikipedia page Evansville MSA contains 6 counties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evansv...atistical_Area and is around 360,000 people, and has been receiving steady growth, so it makes me scratch my head when I see that the MSA is steadily growing but the GDP is slowly shrinking. The city of Evansville is gradually shrinking and hasn't seemed to have stalled the losses yet either, now at 117,000 down from 121,000 in 2010, however the 2016 estimate shows 119,000.

The rest of the cities seem to be about where they should be, I think Indianapolis punches above its weight for an MSA of just over 2 million people, edging out larger MSA's like Cleveland, Austin, San Antonio, Cincinnati, and Kansas City.

I think South Bend-Mishawaka punches a little under its weight with a metro area of 320,000 being outshined by comparable sized metros like Kalamazoo, Rockford, Davenport, Gulfport, Youngstonw, Green Bay and others.

Discuss and share your thoughts if interested!

[Toxic Toast]

As far as Evansville is concerned, a majority of the city's out migration is to the unincorporated areas of Vanderburgh County and into neighboring Warrick County. I would also bet that most of the gains the MSA is making is from births and not people moving to the area. Evansville the city is trying to reinvent itself, but it has fallen behind its peer cities. I can not quite put my finger on what is holding the city back, beyond the culture of the community. Evansville has tried to prop up Haynie's Corner as an arts and nightlife area for at least a decade to largely no avail. Sure, there are a couple of restaurants and a nice fountain. It is not a vibrant area by any stretch. Downtown Evansville is showing signs of life, but still seems like a spooky ghost town for the most part during non-business hours. Jacobsville is another area the city is targeting for revitalization. Right now, the biggest development the city is trumpeting is a new dialysis center.

Right now, the city seems to be pegging its hopes on the new IU Medical school being built downtown. I hope that is the shot in the arm Evansville needs to stop the bleeding. I'll be watching from afar, because every attempt I have made to find work in Evansville has failed.

[Serious Conversation]

Honestly, the biggest surprise for me on the list is that Muncie has been trending positive (though often very mildly so) for each recorded period in absolute dollars. In terms of chained 2009 dollars, it shrunk, but only very mildly so.

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/reg..._metro0917.pdf

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Honestly, the biggest surprise for me on the list is that Muncie has been trending positive (though often very mildly so) for each recorded period in absolute dollars. In terms of chained 2009 dollars, it shrunk, but only very mildly so.

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/reg..._metro0917.pdf

I scrolled down and saw the list of "chained dollars" and noticed that the list was noticeably different from real GDP dollars on the top list, are you able to explain the differences?

Also, thanks for including the link.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

As far as Evansville is concerned, a majority of the city's out migration is to the unincorporated areas of Vanderburgh County and into neighboring Warrick County. I would also bet that most of the gains the MSA is making is from births and not people moving to the area. Evansville the city is trying to reinvent itself, but it has fallen behind its peer cities. I can not quite put my finger on what is holding the city back, beyond the culture of the community. Evansville has tried to prop up Haynie's Corner as an arts and nightlife area for at least a decade to largely no avail. Sure, there are a couple of restaurants and a nice fountain. It is not a vibrant area by any stretch. Downtown Evansville is showing signs of life, but still seems like a spooky ghost town for the most part during non-business hours. Jacobsville is another area the city is targeting for revitalization. Right now, the biggest development the city is trumpeting is a new dialysis center.

Right now, the city seems to be pegging its hopes on the new IU Medical school being built downtown. I hope that is the shot in the arm Evansville needs to stop the bleeding. I'll be watching from afar, because every attempt I have made to find work in Evansville has failed.

Very interesting, sounds like Evansville faces some of the same issues that South Bend is facing with trying to reinvent itself. Have never traveled through Evansville, Terre Haute, Bloomington, or Lafayette. I have only minor experience with Muncie and Fort Wayne, would like to get more acquainted with the state's southern cities.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

I scrolled down and saw the list of "chained dollars" and noticed that the list was noticeably different from real GDP dollars on the top list, are you able to explain the differences?

Also, thanks for including the link.

The first list was absolute dollars not adjusted for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, GDP in Muncie declined mildly.

[cdr18]

Elkhart-Goshen outperforms comparable cities with similar populations only because of the RV industry. One could argue that the Elkhart-Goshen area provides more jobs to the metro area than South Bend-Mishawaka, which would correlate.

Evansville naturally has a slight decrease, and that will probably continue well into this century. However, I doubt Evansville ever shrinks below 100,000 people. It might stabilize around that area as the city is an important hub for the Southwest Indiana communities.

Obviously, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis will continue to shine and outperform the rest of the metro areas.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by cdr18

Elkhart-Goshen outperforms comparable cities with similar populations only because of the RV industry. One could argue that the Elkhart-Goshen area provides more jobs to the metro area than South Bend-Mishawaka, which would correlate.

Evansville naturally has a slight decrease, and that will probably continue well into this century. However, I doubt Evansville ever shrinks below 100,000 people. It might stabilize around that area as the city is an important hub for the Southwest Indiana communities.

Obviously, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis will continue to shine and outperform the rest of the metro areas.

Agreed with your first statement, Elkhart-Goshen was less than 9 billion at the height of the recession, the resurgence of the RV industry has skyrocketed the GDP of the area. Aside from RV's, the county does not have much else to manufacture. When the RV industry is in trouble again, which will happen when gas prices pass $3.50 again, I expect their GDP to drop off.

Evansville Metro is growing, which is why I find it odd that the GDP is shrinking, ever so slightly.

I find that Fort Wayne performs as it should for a city its size, and Indianapolis really over performs for a city its size, knocking out larger rival cities like Austin,Tampa, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Orlando, while rivaling cities like Pittsburgh.