Report: Providence metro ranks 21 in U.S., 102 in world

WASHINGTON – The Providence metro area was ranked 21 in the United States and 102 in the world for economic performance in a report comparing the world’s largest 200 metropolitan areas by the Brookings Institute.

The report – Global Metro Monitor – was released by the Washington-based think tank in February and ranked metros by income for the health of their economy pre-recession, during the Great Recession and post-recession.

The pre-recession period was 1993 to 2007; recession values represented the most difficult year for the metro economy between 2007 to 2010; and post-recession values were from 2010 to 2011.

Income was calculated as gross domestic product divided by population. Ranking values were based on an index of employment and income performance.

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“The goal is to understand not only how metros are relative to each other in terms of economic performance in the latest year, but also how they look versus the growth rates before the recession versus the growth rates they had during the recession,” said Brookings Senior Researcher Emilia Istrate.

For the most recent, post-recession period, Brookings ranked the Providence Metro area 21 out of the 57 largest metros across the United States.

Among the U.S. metros, Providence ranked better post-recession than it did pre-recession, when it was 34. The Providence metro area also fared better during the recession than many other U.S. metro areas. Brookings’ report ranked Providence 19 across the U.S. during 2009 – its most difficult year.

Although Providence fared well during the recession compared to other American metros, its global ranking slipped from 121 during the pre-recession period to 123 during the recession.

“It’s very important to keep in mind that [while] we haven’t seen in 2011 a full recovery, both in terms of GDP per capita and employment, Providence is in a good place,” said Istrate. “It’s on an upward trend.”

Providence is currently ranked 102 out of the world’s largest 200 metros.

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