Peer and Columbus Metro GDP Comparison



Metro GDP comparison

This metro GDP comparison is based on information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Rank of Major Midwest Metros and Columbus National Peers by GDP, 2001, 2010 and 2015
In Millions
2001——————————————–2010————————————-2015

1. Chicago, IL: $416,444————-1. Chicago: $533,825————–1. Chicago: $640,656
2. Detroit, MI: $190,921———–2. Minneapolis: $199,606——-2. Minneapolis: $248,779
3. Minneapolis, MN: $148,192—–3. Detroit: $197,973—————–3. Detroit: $245,607
4. San Jose, CA: $125,037———4. San Jose: $163,836———–4. San Jose: $235,222
5. St. Louis, MO: $102,385———5. Portland: $141,233————5. Portland: $158,770
6. Pittsburgh, PA: $88,769———-6. St. Louis: $133,888———6. St. Louis: $155,077
7. Cleveland: $87,796————-7. Pittsburgh: $117,895———-7. Charlotte: $152,447
8. Portland, OR: $80,753———8. Charlotte: $114,500————8. Pittsburgh: $138,873
9. Cincinnati: $79,638————-9. Indianapolis: $111,084——-9. Indianapolis: $134,081
10. Kansas City, MO: $79,544—-10. Cleveland: $109,365—–10. Cleveland: $128,448
11. Charlotte, NC $78,675———11. Kansas City: $107,265—11. Cincinnati: $127,057
12. Indianapolis, IN: $78,009——-12. Cincinnati: $104,314—-12. Kansas City: $125,618
13. Columbus: $74,172————-13. Orlando: $101,307——–13. Columbus: $124,381
14. Sacramento, CA: $66,696—–14. Columbus: $96,475——14. Orlando: $121,329
15. Orlando, FL: $66,644———–15. Sacramento: $96,015—-15. Austin: $119,949
16. Milwaukee, WI: $65,033——–16. Austin: $87,473———-16. Sacramento: $118,822
17. Nashville, TN: $58,245———17. Milwaukee: $86,569—–17. Nashville: $113,680
18. Las Vegas, NV: $57,035——-18. Las Vegas: $85,020—–18. San Antonio: $108,879
19. Virginia Beach, VA: $54,040—-19. Nashville: $84,804—19. Las Vegas: $103,343
20. Austin, TX: $53,915——20. Virginia Beach: $82,685—–20. Milwaukee: $102,209
21. San Antonio, TX: $53,248—21. San Antonio: $81,722—21. Virginia Beach: $95,680
22. Providence, RI: $49,997——-22. Providence: $67,754—-22. Providence: $78,694
23. Grand Rapids, MI: $35,248—-23. Omaha: $47,711——-23. Omaha: $59,090
24. Omaha, NE: $32,044——–24. Grand Rapids: $41,221–24. Grand Rapids: $53,949
25. Dayton: $29,658————–25. Dayton: $34,226————25. Dayton: $39,206
26. Toledo: $22,216————–26. Akron: $28,628————–26. Akron: $34,419
27. Akron: $21,684—————27. Toledo: $27,158————-27. Toledo: $34,019
28. Youngstown: $15,314——28. Youngstown: $17,293——28. Youngstown: $21,417

Rank by Total Change in Millions 2001-2015
1. Chicago: +$224,212
2. San Jose: +$110,185
3. Minneapolis: +$100,587
4. Portland: +$78,017
5. Charlotte: +$73,772
6. Austin: +$66,034
7. Indianapolis: +$56,072
8. San Antonio: +$55,631
9. Nashville: +$55,435
10. Detroit: +$54,686
11. Orlando: +$54,685
12. St. Louis: +$52,692
13. Sacramento: +$52,126
14. Columbus: +$50,209
15. Pittsburgh: +$50,104
16. Cincinnati: +$47,419
17. Las Vegas: +$46,308
18. Kansas City: +$46,074
19. Virginia Beach: +$41,640
20. Cleveland: +$40,652
21. Milwaukee: +$37,176
22. Providence: +$28,697
23. Omaha: +$27,046
24. Grand Rapids: +$18,701
25. Akron: +$12,735
26. Toledo: +$11,803
27. Dayton: +$9,548
28. Youngstown: +$6,103

Rank by Total Change in Millions 2010-2015
1. Chicago: +$106,831
2. San Jose: +$71,386
3. Minneapolis: +$49,173
4. Detroit: +$47,634
5. Charlotte: +$37,947
6. Austin: +$32,476
7. Nashville: $28,876
8. Columbus: +$27,906
9. San Antonio: +$27,157
10. Indianapolis +$22,997
11. Sacramento: +$22,807
12. Cincinnati: +$22,743
13. St. Louis: +$21,189
14. Pittsburgh: +$20,978
15. Orlando: +$20,022
16. Cleveland: +$19,083
17. Kansas City: +$18,353
18. Las Vegas: +$18,323
19. Portland: +$17,537
20. Milwaukee: +$15,640
21. Virginia Beach: +$12,995
22. Grand Rapids: +$12,728
23. Omaha: +$11,379
24. Providence: +$10,940
25. Toledo: +$6,861
26. Akron: +$5,791
27. Dayton: +$4,980
28. Youngstown: +$4,124

Total Rank by % Change 2001-2015
1. Austin: +122.48%
2. San Antonio: +104.48%
3. Portland: +96.61%
4. Nashville: +95.18%
5. Charlotte: +93.77%
6. San Jose: +88.12%
7. Omaha: +84.40%
8. Orlando: +82.06%
9. Las Vegas: +81.19%
10. Sacramento: +78.15%
11. Virginia Beach: +77.05%
12. Indianapolis: +71.88%
13. Minneapolis: +67.88%
14. Columbus: +67.69%
15. Cincinnati: +59.54%
16. Akron: +58.73%
17. Kansas City: +57.92%
18. Providence: +57.40%
19. Milwaukee: +57.16%
20. Pittsburgh: +56.44%
21. Chicago: +53.84%
22. Toledo: +53.13%
23. Grand Rapids: +53.06%
24. St. Louis: +51.46%
25. Cleveland: +46.30%
26. Youngstown: +39.85%
27. Dayton: +32.19%
28. Detroit: +28.64%

Total Rank by % Change 2010-2015
1. San Jose: +43.57%
2. Austin: +37.13%
3. Nashville: +34.05%
4. San Antonio: +33.23%
5. Charlotte: +33.14%
6. Grand Rapids: +30.88%
7. Columbus: +28.93%
8. Toledo: +25.26%
9. Minneapolis: +24.64%
10. Detroit: +24.06%
11. Omaha: +23.85%
12. Youngstown: +23.85%
13. Sacramento: +23.75%
14. Cincinnati: +21.80%
15. Las Vegas: +21.55%
16. Indianapolis: +20.70%
17. Akron: +20.23%
18. Chicago: +20.01%
19. Orlando: +19.76%
20. Milwaukee: +18.07%
21. Pittsburgh: +17.79%
22. Cleveland: +17.45%
23. Kansas City: +17.11%
24. Providence: +16.15%
25. St. Louis: +15.83%
26. Virginia Beach: +15.72%
27. Dayton: +14.55%
28. Portland: +12.42%

Finally, let’s take a look at per-capita GDP and income.

Rank of Metros by Per-Capita GDP in Dollars, 2015
1. San Jose: $112,851
2. Minneapolis: $63,474
3. Portland: $62,229
4. Chicago: $59,688
5. Indianapolis: $59,479
6. Milwaukee: $58,219
7. Omaha: $57,334
8. Cleveland: $56,013
9. Nashville: $55,841
10. Charlotte: $55,610
11. Pittsburgh: $55,335
12. Austin: $55,323
13. Columbus: $55,005
14. Kansas City: $54,097
15. Cincinnati: $52,649
16. Detroit: $51,428
17. Virginia Beach: $49,606
18. Toledo: $49,428
19. St. Louis: $49,258
20. Sacramento: $46,697
21. Grand Rapids: $46,677
22. Orlando: $45,756
23. Akron: $44,246
24. Dayton: $43,748
25. Providence: $43,744
26. Las Vegas: $43,476
27. San Antonio: $42,169
28. Youngstown: $34,960

Total Growth 2001-2015 by Rank, in Dollars
1. San Jose: +$40,677
2. Portland: +$18,225
3. Pittsburgh: +$10,064
4. Austin: +$9,925
5. Toledo: +$7,414
6. Virginia Beach: +$7,256
7. Nashville: +$7,071
8. Cleveland: +$6,767
9. Milwaukee: +$6,744
10. Omaha: +$6,581
11. Akron: +$6,167
12. Minneapolis: +$5,900
13. Providence: +$5,560
14. Chicago: +4,663
15. San Antonio: +$4,652
16. Cincinnati: +$4,426
17. Youngstown: +$4,391
18. Sacramento: +$3,210
19. Columbus: +$3,182
20. Indianapolis: +$2,984
21. Grand Rapids: +$2,971
22. Charlotte: +$2,880
23. Kansas City: +$2,770
24. St. Louis: +$2,699
25. Detroit: +$2,011
26. Dayton: +$162
27. Orlando: -$1,630
28. Las Vegas: -$5,041

Total Per-Capita GDP Growth 2010-2015, in Dollars
1. San Jose: +$23,814
2. Toledo: +$6,242
3. Pittsburgh: +$6,172
4. Nashville: +$5,643
5. Detroit: +$5,459
6. Austin: +$5,307
7. Grand Rapids: +$5,158
8. Youngstown: +$4,987
9. San Antonio: +$4,878
10. Columbus: +$4,864
11. Minneapolis: +$4,644
12. Charlotte: +$4,578
13. Chicago: +$4,004
14. Cleveland: +$3,992
15. Cincinnati: +$3,986
16. Akron: +$3,774
17. Milwaukee: +$2,913
18. Omaha: +$2,863
19. Sacramento: +$2,680
20. Providence: +$1,902
21. St. Louis: +$1,884
22. Dayton: +$1,439
23. Kansas City: +$1,270
24. Indianapolis: +$1,186
25. Virginia Beach: +$998
26. Las Vegas: +$206
27. Portland: -$992
28. Orlando: -$1,345

What the numbers suggest is that Columbus was performing at a middle-mediocre level in the first half of the 2001-2015 period, and has generally been performing significantly better in the latter half. In Ohio, Columbus is poised to become Ohio’s largest metro economy over the next few years.



The Real Makeup of the Columbus Economy




Columbus economy

Over the years, there have been endless claims about how the Columbus economy is dominated by jobs related to state government and OSU. These claims are usually made from other Ohioans complaining that Columbus has an unfair advantage and is mooching public dollars from the rest of the state to prop up the economy.

Let’s first address two points made: 1. That the number of government jobs is far above what they are in all other major Ohio cities, and 2. That overall, government jobs are becoming a larger slice of the metro economy.

The first claim is easy to look into. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, produces numbers every single month on job industry numbers by metro area. The most recent numbers are from June 2016.
Here are the total government jobs for Ohio’s largest cities.
Columbus: 162,600
Cleveland: 138,800
Cincinnati: 124,200
Dayton: 62,300
Toledo: 44,800
Akron: 40,600

So as to the first claim, that the total of government jobs in Columbus is higher than the other cities, that is true. As the state capital, this is no surprise. However, how dependent on government jobs is Columbus really versus those other cities? To find out, you have to divide government jobs by all total jobs within the metro. In June 2016, here was the percentage of the total.

Dayton: 16.17%
Columbus: 15.30%
Toledo: 14.21%
Cleveland: 12.90%
Akron: 11.84%
Cincinnati: 11.43%

Interestingly enough, Columbus is not the top government-dependent city. That spot goes to Dayton.

Now onto the 2nd claim- that Columbus is increasingly reliant on those government jobs. Let’s look at the % of total jobs that government jobs made up going back to 1990. The figures are for June of each year given.

1990: 17.97%
1995: 17.25%
2000: 15.97%
2005: 17.18%
2010: 17.81%
2015: 15.34%
2016: 15.30%

So it does not appear that Columbus has become more or less dependent on government jobs over the last 26 years. Indeed, if there is any pattern at all, it appears that during economic downturns, the number of government jobs increase, and during periods of stability/recovery, government jobs decline. The early 1990s and late 2000s had high levels of governments jobs, both periods of recession. In June 2016, nearly 85% of the local economy was not government-related, not statistically much different than other Ohio cities.

Finally, let’s look at how total government jobs have changed since the beginning of this decade, 2010, by Ohio city. The figures are for June 2010 and June 2016.

Toledo: +2.75%
Columbus: -0.91%
Cleveland: -1.56%
Cincinnati: -3.72%
Dayton: -4.30%
Akron: -10.38%

All cities except Toledo have seen declines.

So that brings us to the actual makeup of the Columbus metro economy. What are the industries that most people work for? What are the industries that have the greatest % of the total jobs? Let’s compare June 1990 and June 2016.

1990
Trade/Transportation/Utilities: 20.51%
Government: 17.97%
Manufacturing: 13.49%
Professional and Business Services: 11.46%
Health and Education: 9.41%
Leisure and Hospitality: 8.63%
Financial Activities: 8.26%
Mining/Logging/Construction: 4.30%
Other Services: 3.46%
Information: 2.51%

2016
Trade/Transportation/Utilities: 18.37%
Professional and Business Services: 17.11%
Government: 15.30%
Health and Education: 14.43%
Leisure and Hospitality: 10.89%
Financial Activities: 7.63%
Manufacturing: 6.84%
Other Services: 4.10%
Mining/Logging/Construction: 3.75%
Information: 1.57%

If anything, Columbus’ economy is actually more diverse in 2016 than it was in 1990, not less.