News Release
Gross Domestic Product by Metropolitan Area, 2011 and Revised 2001-2010
ECONOMIC GROWTH CONTINUES ACROSS METROPOLITAN AREAS IN 2011
Real GDP increased in 242 of the nations 366 metropolitan areas in 2011 led by growth in professional and business services, durable-goods manufacturing, and trade, according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Real GDP in metropolitan areas increased 1.6 percent in 2011 after increasing 3.1 percent in 2010.1
Of the ten largest metropolitan areas, the three with the fastest real GDP growth in 2011 were Houston-Sugar Land Baytown, TX (3.7 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (3.1 percent), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (2.6 percent).2 The ten largest metropolitan areas, accounting for 38.1 percent of U.S. metropolitan area GDP, averaged 2.0 percent growth in 2011 after growing 3.1 percent in 2010.
In 2011, professional and business services was a strong contributor to growth in many metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas in the New England and Far West regions were affected most. Professional and business services contributed more than a percentage point to growth in Worcester, MA; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA; and Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, WA. The industry also drove growth outside these regions, most notably in Peoria, IL and Joplin, MO where the industry added nearly two percentage points to real GDP growth in 2011.
Durable-goods manufacturing continued to spur growth in many of the nation's metropolitan areas in 2011. Strong contributions from this industry fueled growth in many small metropolitan areas where production of these goods constitutes a large portion of the area's economy.3 This is especially true in the Great Lakes region where durable-goods manufacturing contributed 7.0 percentage points to growth in Kokomo, IN and 6.9 percentage points to growth in Columbus, IN. Kokomo, IN and Columbus, IN were two of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in 2011, with overall real GDP growth of 7.1 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively.
The effect of the growth in trade (wholesale and retail) was strongest in the Southwest region in 2011. The largest contribution occurred in Odessa, TX, where trade contributed 2.75 percentage points to overall real GDP growth. The industry also contributed significantly to the real GDP growth in other metropolitan areas in Texas: Midland, TX (1.2 percentage points); Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (1.1 percentage points); and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX (1.1 percentage points).
Tables 1-3 [XLS] show these results in more detail; complete detail is available on BEA's Web site at www.bea.gov.
This release of advance statistics of GDP by metropolitan area for 2011 has been delayed by 5 months. This one-time delay of annual metropolitan area data enabled BEA to permanently accelerate the availability of annual local area personal income by 5 months. BEA will return to the regular September release schedule for GDP by metropolitan area in September 2013.
The statistics of GDP by metropolitan area released today are consistent with the GDP-by-state statistics released in June 2012; however, these statistics do not incorporate revisions to national GDP by industry released by BEA in November 2012. These revisions will be included in our September 2013 release of GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics. Compared with the previously published GDP-by-industry statistics, the overall picture of the economy for 2009—2011 did not change. Similarly, the industry trends in the GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics are similar to the national trends, although there are some differences in magnitude.
Advance Statistics of GDP by Metropolitan Area for 2011 by NAICS Sector
The advance statistics of GDP by metropolitan area for 2011 are based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. Revised statistics, based on more complete data, will be released in September 2013.
More information on the methodology used to produce the advance 2011 statistics, on the revised GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics for 20012010, and on revisions to the GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics will appear in an article in the March 2013 issue of the Survey of Current Business, BEA's monthly journal.
Explanatory Notes
Definitions. GDP by metropolitan area is the sub-state counterpart of the Nation's gross domestic product (GDP), the Bureau's featured and most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity. GDP by metropolitan area is derived as the sum of the GDP originating in all the industries in the metropolitan area.
The statistics of real GDP by metropolitan area are prepared in chained (2005) dollars. Real GDP by metropolitan area is an inflation-adjusted measure of each area's gross product that is based on national prices for the goods and services produced within the metropolitan area. The statistics of real GDP by metropolitan area and of quantity indexes with a base year of 2005 were derived by applying national chain-type price indexes to the current-dollar GDP-by-metropolitan-area values for the 61 detailed NAICS-based industries.
The chain-type index formula that is used in the national accounts is then used to calculate the values of total real GDP by metropolitan area and of real GDP by metropolitan area at more aggregated industry levels. Real GDP by metropolitan area may reflect a substantial volume of output that is sold to other areas and countries. To the extent that a metropolitan area's output is produced and sold in national markets at relatively uniform prices (or sold locally at national prices), real GDP by metropolitan area captures the differences across metropolitan areas that reflect the relative differences in the mix of goods and services that the areas produce. However, real GDP by metropolitan area does not capture geographic differences in the prices of goods and services that are produced and sold locally.
Relation of GDP by metropolitan area real growth rates to national GDP. Following typical procedures, the GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics released today are consistent with statistics of GDP by state released June 5, 2012, which are based on the annual revision of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs) released in July 2011 and BEAs national GDP-by-industry statistics released December 13, 2011 and April 26, 2012. As is normally the case, the growth rate of real GDP in the nations metropolitan areas differs from the nations real GDP growth rates released in July 2012. In part, the difference is caused by the inclusion of nonmetropolitan areas in the national statistics. In addition, growth rates differ because of differences in the timing of production cycles and availability of data in preparing national and regional statistics, which preclude BEA from incorporating the immediately preceding July annual revisions to the NIPAs into the advance GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics.
As discussed in the box above, this years release of metropolitan-area statistics is delayed 5 months and follows the release of BEAs November 2012 release of revised GDP-by-industry statistics that were not used in the preparation of the GDP-by-metropolitan-area statistics. The November 2012 revisions to BEAs national GDP by industry revisions (as well as the advance April 2013 GDP-by-industry statistics) will be included in our September 2013 release of GDP by metropolitan area as we return to our typical production cycle.
Metropolitan (statistical) areas. The metropolitan (statistical) areas used by BEA for its entire series of GDP statistics are the county-based definitions developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for federal statistical purposes and last updated in December 2009. OMB's general concept of a metropolitan area is that of a geographic area consisting of a large population nucleus together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with the nucleus.
The statistics of GDP by metropolitan area in current and real (chained) dollars are available from the Regional Economic Accounts page of the BEA Web site at /regional/index.htm.
BEA's national, international, regional, and industry statistics; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases are available without charge on BEA's Web site at www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive free e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.
Footnotes
1. Real GDP growth in the nation's metropolitan areas in this release differs from previously published growth rates for the U.S. See the box above and the "Explanatory Notes" for detailed explanations.
2. The ten largest metropolitan areas, as measured by 2011 real GDP, are: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA; Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX; Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA; Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH; and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA. The real GDP produced by each of these metropolitan areas exceeds $240 billion.
3. Small metropolitan areas are those with real GDP of less than $10 billion.
