All Economics is Local

America's Craziest Cities

The 57 largest metropolitan areas—using four criteria: psychiatrists per capita, stress, eccentricity and drinking levels. The Daily Beast

Young in the City

Portfolio.com/bizjournals analyzed the 67 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations above 750,000, searching for qualities that would appeal to workers in their 20s and early 30s. The study gave the highest marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living, and substantial pools of young adults who are college-educated and employed. Portfolio.com

Cities Where the Recession Is Easing

In these metro areas, jobs are projected to grow and the housing crisis is stabilizing. D.C. and nine other cities (among them: Boston, Los Angeles and a host of metros in Texas) are best surviving the downturn in part because they specialize in industries that are relatively insulated from economic volatility. Federal and state jobs all but guarantee the health of a local economy, and nowhere is there more government-related work than in Washington. Forbes

Best Affordable Suburbs in America 2010

The focus is not luxury, but rather communities where families can live well for less and enjoy good schools, low crime, and reasonable commutes. The selected suburbs were limited to towns within 25 miles of the most populated city in the state, with populations of 5,000 to 60,000, median family incomes of $51,000 to $120,000, and lower-than-average crime rates. BusinessWeek

Top Metros By Number of Projects

Metros ranked by the number of corporate facility deals that meet the criteria of the Conway New Plant Database in 2009. Site Selection Magazine

America's Most Obese Metro Areas

Montgomery, Ala., and Stockton Calif., tie for the most obese metro areas in the U.S., with adult obesity rates of 34.6% -- substantially surpassing the national average obesity rate of 26.5%. More than one-third of adults are classified as obese in the 10 metro areas found to be most obese according to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index collected in 2009. Gallup

Job Growth in U.S. Metros-March 2010

In all, 349 metros (93%) have experienced no total job growth though out the second-half of 2009. In spite of the overall lack of total job growth, there are some industries that are adding jobs within most U.S. metros. In December 2009, 240 metros (64%) had added jobs in the Health Services & Private Education industry sector.  Over the year, government employment had increased in 160 metros (42%). Garner Economics

Best And Worst Cities For Commuters

Travel time, road congestion and travel delays for the 60 largest metros in the U.S. Forbes

Looking at Winners, Losers in Federal Government Spending

Breakdown by community types where the government distributes money across U.S. counties. PBS NewsHour patchwork nation

County Health Rankings

Rankings show how counties measure up within each state in terms of how healthy people are, how long they live, and how important factors affect their health, such as tobacco use, obesity, access to healthcare, education, community safety, and air quality. County Health Rankings

Among Large Cities, San Jose and D.C. Lead in Well-Being

Among the nation's 52 largest metropolitan areas that Gallup surveyed in 2009, San Jose, Calif., had the highest well-being in the nation followed closely by Washington, D.C., according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Rounding out the top five well-being cities are Raleigh, N.C., Minneapolis, and San Francisco. Gallup

The Geography of Healthful Food

Your Food Environment Atlas, a new USDA Economic Research Service online tool, allows users to map and compare counties across the United States on the ability of their residents to access healthful food. The tool covers numerous indicators that include health, demographic, and food access characteristics (e.g., proximity and concentration of grocery stores). Food Environment Atlas

Best Places To Get Ahead

Counties where the number of jobs had grown the most between the second quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2009. Factoring in the counties with the highest income growth as well, using median household income growth between 2007 and 2008, here the median household income was $75,000 per year or higher. It's a sign of the times that in many of these counties, job growth was flat or even down, but they still placed high because the drop was more modest than elsewhere in the country. Forbes

Fourth Quarter Existing-Home Sales Surge- Prices Up in More Areas

In the fourth quarter, 67 out of 151 metropolitan statistical areas reported higher median existing single-family home prices in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2008, including 16 with double-digit increases; one was unchanged and 84 metros had price declines. In the third quarter only 30 MSAs showed annual price increases and 123 areas were down. National Association of REALTORS

Graying of America by Metropolitan Area

The population 65 years and over varies widely by metropolitan area. Based on 2008 population estimates, the percent population ages 65 years and over ranged from 4.77% in the Edwards, CO MISA to 32.24% in the Sebring, FL MISA. Use the interactive ranking table in this section to rank and compare metropolitan areas based on selected measures of the population 65 years and over. Proximity

America's Worst Winter Weather Cities

Weather patterns in the country's fifty largest cities.  Data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and tracks average annual temperature, total precipitation in inches and total snowfall in inches. Forbes

Ten Cities To Go From Renting To Buying

The premium to buy--the spread between what you'd spend on renting and what you'd pay each month for a mortgage--is far narrower now than its 15-year average. And economists predict a significant home-price hike in five years. So upgrading will cost much less than usual, and home buyers are likely to get a good return on their investment. Forbes

Only 4 Out Of 337 Cities Added Construction Jobs In 2009 As Construction Spending Drops To Lowest Level In 6 Years

Construction employment grew in only four out of 337 metropolitan areas in 2009 as spending on construction projects dropped by $100 billion in December to a six-year low of $903 billion. Leominster-Fitchburg, Mass., lost a larger percentage of its construction work force (38 percent) during 2009 than any other metropolitan area. Other areas experiencing sharp declines in construction employment during the year include El Centro, Calif. (36 percent); and Santa Fe, N.M.; Pocatello, Idaho; and Kokomo, Ind. (all 29 percent). Meanwhile, the Houston, Texas area lost the most construction jobs (25,500) between December 2008 and 2009.The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America

Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment - December 2009

Unemployment rates were higher in December than a year earlier in 371 of the 372 metropolitan areas and lower in 1 area. Nineteen areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, while 10 areas registered rates below 5.0 percent. As of December, 356 metropolitan areas reported over-the-year decreases in nonfarm payroll employment, 12 reported increases, and 1 remained unchanged. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Las Vegas, Cape Coral, Merced Foreclosure Activity Rates Highest Among Major Metro Areas In 2009

Cities  in four Sun Belt states accounted for all top 20 foreclosure rates in 2009  among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, but foreclosure  activity showed signs of spreading into previously insulated areas as  unemployment became more of a driving factor. RealtyTrac (full list of metros)

Mixed Messages in the Data According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Four markets – Charlotte, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa – posted new low index levels as measured by the past four years. Any gains they might have seen in recent months have been erased and November is now considered their current trough value. On the flip side, there are still some markets that continue to improve month-over-month. Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco have seen prices increase for at least six consecutive months. Standard & Poor's

The Suburbanization of Poverty: Trends in Metropolitan America, 2000 to 2008

Between 2000 and 2008, suburbs in the country’s largest metro areas saw their poor population grow by 25 percent—almost five times faster than primary cities and well ahead of the growth seen in smaller metro areas and non-metropolitan communities. As a result, by 2008 large suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall. Brookings

Small Business Vitality 2010

Looking at population, employment, and small business growth to determine the 100 most vibrant U.S. metropolitan areas for businesses with fewer than 99 employees. Portfolio.com/bizjournals PDF

Recession-Resistant Growth: nine most notable high-growth areas in the nation from 2009

Proprietary statistical ranking system that evaluates the 17,000 Census Places. Selection criteria and ranking methodology include percent change, absolute change and emerging Census blocks. The analysis considers total growth from 2000 to 2009, as well as that from 2008 to 2009 and weights the analysis using key demographic variables such as ethnicity, household income, net worth, economic stability, length of residence and age. Gadberry Group

County Employment & Wages: 2Q 2009

From June 2008 to June 2009, employment declined in 324 of the 334 largest U.S. counties according to preliminary data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas: December 2009

Focusing on national aggregates, however, overlooks the fact that just as the American economy is not the same everywhere, neither is the recovery. The U.S. economy’s performance is driven largely by that of its major metropolitan economies, some of which are recovering and some of which are still in recession. Several of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas posted signs of robust economic growth in the third quarter of 2009, most showed a mixed though improving performance across their headline indicators, and some remained mired in recession with no signs that recovery is around the corner. BROOKINGS

Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment - November 2009

Unemployment rates were higher in November than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas. Seventeen areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, while 13 areas registered rates below 5.0 percent.

In November, 354 metropolitan areas reported over-the-year decreases in non-farm payroll employment, 14 reported increases, and 1 remained unchanged. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Juju.com Releases Job Search Difficulty Index

The Index was calculated by dividing the number of unemployed workers in each metro area, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), by the number of jobs in Juju's index of online jobs in the United States, which is compiled and updated continuously from employer career portals, recruiter websites, and job boards all over the Internet. Juju.com

America's Most Literate Cities 2008

Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the America’s Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States. The study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources. Central Connecticut State University

County Compensation by Industry, 2008

Compensation grew in over 80 percent of the 3,112 counties in the U.S., as the average annual compensation per job in the U.S. grew by 2.6 percent to $56,116. Total compensation of U.S. workers grew 2.3 percent in 2008, as net job losses partially offset compensation growth. Inflation measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, grew 3.3 percent. Bureau Economic Analysis