NerdWallet: Greene, Foster Center, Carolina on the rise

PROVIDENCE – Consumer advocacy site NerdWallet has named the villages of Greene, Foster Center and Carolina as the state’s top “cities on the rise.”
While they are actually villages, Greene, for example, is a village in Coventry, Carolina is a village that borders Richmond and Charlestown, and Foster Center is a village within Foster, all three were singled out for employment, population and income growth.
NerdWallet said the communities are “bright spots in a state that lags behind the rest of New England in economic recovery.” NerdWallet relied on U.S. Census Bureau data to come up with the results.
Greene, with a working age population of 847 in 2012, experienced 10 percent working age population growth from 2010 to 2012, and had a 2012 median income of approximately $54,000, a 16 percent increase from 2010 to 2012, landing it in the top spot with an overall growth score of 73.70.
Foster Center had a working age population of 266 in 2012, a nearly 21 percent increase in working age population growth, and a median income of $30,000, a 35.75 percent increase from 2010 to 2012, giving it an overall score of 72.88. Carolina, in comparison, had 1,178 for a working age population, representing 12 percent growth over the two-year period, and a median income of $33,994, a 6.55 percent increase over the two-year period, for a score of 71.01.
Providence came in at No. 15, with a score of 55.34, including median income of $36,751, an increase of 3.29 percent over the two-year period.
The villages of Clayville in Foster and Scituate, Melville in Portsmouth and Watch Hill in Westerly were at the bottom of the list for a negative working age population change over the two-year period, 6.35 percent, 12.50 percent and 20.88 percent, respectively.
NerdWallet reported that while other New England states, such as New Hampshire and Vermont, are leading the nation as “beacons of post-recession recovery, Rhode Island still lags severely” with the third highest unemployment rate in the nation at 7.6 percent, trailing only Georgia and Mississippi.
“In more positive news, the worst of the recession in Rhode Island seems to have passed. [Gross domestic product], which decreased in 2008 and 2009, has been rebounding since 2010. Exports also increased 2 percent in 2013 to $2.2 billion,” according to NerdWallet.
“Residents have seen their income grow. In larger places, such as Narragansett, Kingston (a village of South Kingstown) and Tiverton, median incomes have increased more than 10 percent, and smaller communities, such as Foster Center, are also seeing high gains in income. Our top spot for income growth, Weekapaug, (which is part of Westerly and came in at No. 4 on the list) saw residents’ income nearly double in two years to $40,300 in 2012,” NerdWallet reported.
View the entire report HERE.

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