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The pace of growth is expected to rise from an average of 1.4% per year to 1.8% per year over the next five years. There is every indication that growth will continue past the five years at a higher rate than we have had in the past.
The economic future for Morgantown appears very bright. Things that weren't mentioned in the report are anticipated growth in the generic pharma industry due to the expiration of patents on several brand name drugs this year. Also, it is likely that this region will share in the downstream industrial growth of the Marcellus ethane developments.
The whole I-79 corridor from Metro Pittsburgh through Clarksburg is booming! I always felt it was a stroke of genius on West Virginia's part to place its flagship university in Morgantown... now the Pittsburgh-Morgantown megaregion is starting to generate great economic momentum.
The whole I-79 corridor from Metro Pittsburgh through Clarksburg is booming! I always felt it was a stroke of genius on West Virginia's part to place its flagship university in Morgantown... now the Pittsburgh-Morgantown megaregion is starting to generate great economic momentum.
I don't know if I'd say that. Following I-79 north from Morgantown, Greene County is losing population, although I'd say there is a strong possibility of future growth as Morgantown expands northward. Washington County, one of only two counties in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metro to see any population growth at all, saw 2.4% growth between 2000 and 2010 which equates to about 5,000 new residents. Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, lost 58,318 residents between 2000 and 2010. That's a lot and I'd hardly call such an area "booming." Recently, there's been all this talk about how Pittsburgh's population loss is slowing and how intellectuals and the creative class are moving in as others move out. Those are surely good signs, but Pittsburgh still has quite a lot of recovering to do.
Population growth is not the same as economic growth. At this point, Metro Pittsburgh's population decline is due to a "birth deficit"... caused by a long period of extreme economic distress in the 70s and 80s... massive outmigration took place... which distorted the demographics of the region. This has resulted in an overhang of elderly population that is dying off.
Metro Pittsburgh today experiences net in-migration and has very favorable demographics in terms of education and "brain gain". The economy is diverse and resilient and is one of the only major economies to have recovered all jobs lost during the Great Recession. In fact, the Pittsburgh region is at an all-time high for employment and labor force.
It's easy to make judgments based upon that big population number... but you really have to look at the components of population change... to understand the demographic evolution taking place in Pittsburgh.
As for Greene County... it sucks... but besides that little gap... there is a lot of economic vibrancy along the I-79 corridor from Cranberry Township through Morgantown and along the "High-Tech Corridor" to Clarksburg.
I don't know if I'd say that. Following I-79 north from Morgantown, Greene County is losing population, although I'd say there is a strong possibility of future growth as Morgantown expands northward. Washington County, one of only two counties in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metro to see any population growth at all, saw 2.4% growth between 2000 and 2010 which equates to about 5,000 new residents. Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, lost 58,318 residents between 2000 and 2010. That's a lot and I'd hardly call such an area "booming." Recently, there's been all this talk about how Pittsburgh's population loss is slowing and how intellectuals and the creative class are moving in as others move out. Those are surely good signs, but Pittsburgh still has quite a lot of recovering to do.
I don't agree. Although Pittsburgh has lost population, the outlying areas have not in general. And, the real growth potential is not along I79 per se but along the Mon River Valley. I79 was simply an interstate bypass of the more congested areas. Look for things to turn around in Greene County though. Natural gas will turn things around there too. Next time you are here, drive around Mount Morris, and Waynesburg has a new air of prosperity about it too. Green county is turning from mostly farm country to a resources center.
What you're seeing in Pittsburgh is the slow dying off of the baby boomers who used to work in the mills, and the moving southward of the survivors.
The town is reinventing itself. It probably will never be its once glorious industrial self, but it isn't going to die. Like all the larger towns, population movement continues to suburbs and exburbs too. Most of that 2+% population growth in Washington County took place in the latter part of the last decade. The trend continues upward there too.
One thing I have noticed is a lot more folks commuting to work in Pittsburgh from the Wheeling area, for example, so that whole corridor is seeing movement too. You really can't measure economic activity strictly in terms of population because people sometimes live in nearby areas but work in others. We're seeing more and more of that around here.
Like all the larger towns, population movement continues to suburbs and exburbs too.
That's not true, at least not anymore. Between 2010 and 2011, the Pittsburgh MSA added just over 3,000 people, with Allegheny County adding just under 4,000 people. That means the other six metropolitan counties combined still lost about 800 people, but Allegheny County much more than compensated for it. Future growth in the Pittsburgh MSA will be from the inside out.
That's not true, at least not anymore. Between 2010 and 2011, the Pittsburgh MSA added just over 3,000 people, with Allegheny County adding just under 4,000 people. That means the other six metropolitan counties combined still lost about 800 people, but Allegheny County much more than compensated for it. Future growth in the Pittsburgh MSA will be from the inside out.
They had a bit of a rebound with the general economic downturn of the country, but the unmistakable trend is downward for the urban areas. Pittsburgh will stabilize, but it won't approach the glory years of pre 1980s.
Even the manufacturing that is returning from cheap labor countries because our super rich have moved our whole country in the direction of 3rd. world status and the illegal aliens are threatening to complete the journey, the new plants are not being built inside the cities.
The jobs are in our region...hospitals, Wvu expansion, Mining and Gas.
All pay very well.
With the expansion of those keystone jobs comes the expansion of the services need to keep everyone happy.... recreation, food, cars, clothing, hobbies and leisure.
Morgantown also has and will continue to have a greater political presence in Charleston and Washington, DC.
I see Morgantown and Fayette County booming for about 15 years with unprecedented growth.
It's too bad Joe Hardy is so old now.
I would have gone into the south side of Uniontown and built several thousand town homes and pulled the revenue and people into Uniontown. Now, its too late as Glen-Mark has beat him to the punch.
All in all, Morgantown is in good hands and will be guided in an excellent manner. Good for us!
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