Useful Stats: Industry breakdown of metropolitan and micropolitan area GDPs

In a country marked by regional diversity, gaining insights into economic performance often means looking beyond conventional state and county boundaries to economic hubs. This edition of Useful Stats uses Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data to first compare U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan GDPs broken down by industry for the last 20+ years, then consider each Metropolitan Statistical Area’s GDP by private industry, highlighting patterns and changes over the past decades.  

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), “have at least one urban area of 50,000 or more population plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core urban area as measured by commuting ties.” Approximately 86% of the nation's population resides within the 392 MSAs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.[1]

In addition to MSAs are micropolitan statistical areas (μSAs), defined by OMB as having “at least one urban area of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.” Eight percent of the nation’s population resides within μSAs, leaving roughly only six percent of Americans living outside of either an MSA or μSA. 

National overview of micro and metropolitan areas

Real private industry GDP resides overwhelmingly within MSAs, accounting for 91% of the total in 2023, the most recent available year of data. 

Over the past two decades, with the economies of scale and agglomeration advantages realized in more populated areas, this concentration has grown but not dramatically. In 2001, MSAs made up just under 90% of the micro/metro total. 

Figure 1: Real private industry GDP of United States metropolitan and nonmetropolitan portions

Within MSAs, the largest sector by GDP persistently is FIRE: finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing. Professional and business services was second most dominant in all years except 2007, when manufacturing briefly prevailed. 

Micropolitan GDPs, on the other hand, were more dependent on manufacturing in 14 of the last 23 years and by FIRE in the remaining 9. Eight of the nine years for which FIRE was the largest contributor to μSA GDP were consecutive, directly following the start of the Great Recession, from 2009 through 2016. Manufacturing GDP in μSAs fell over $30 billion in a single year from 2007 to 2008 and did not recover in real dollars until 2013.

However, these trends should not be mistaken as more manufacturing occurring within micro than metropolitans, but rather that the sector’s proportion is higher relative to other private industries in less populate areas. In real dollars, there were nearly $2 trillion of GDP contributed by manufacturing within MSAs in 2023, compared to $329 billion in μSAs. 

Figure 2: Real industry GDP breakdown of United States metropolitan and nonmetropolitan portions

Overview of metropolitan statistical areas by industry GDP

Figures 3 and 4 below provide detailed breakdowns of real private industry GDPs across all MSAs, with filters to explore trends over the past five years for each provided private industry sector. Examining industry trends at the metropolitan level reveals how different sectors contribute to regional economies over time and may provide a guide for adjusting technology-based economic development strategies accordingly.

Figure 3 can be adjusted to display the trends for up to five MSAs at a time, defaulting to the first five MSAs by alphabetic order. To adjust the MSAs displayed, click anywhere in the “Enter series to show” box and either scroll or begin typing the name of the desired MSA(s) before clicking to select each. This figure is best used to compare a single sector over time between one or more MSAs.

Figure 4 can display one MSA at a time and provides a pie chart breakdown of all sectors for which data is available. To change which MSA is being viewed, use the dropdown under the figure’s title.

Note that to avoid disclosure of confidential information, some data is intentionally excluded by BEA at the MSA level (this does not affect the aggregate calculations).

Figure 3: Real industry GDP breakdown of MSAs

Figure 4: Real industry GDP breakdown of MSAs

All data used in this article is in real dollars, inflation-adjusted to 2017 USD.

This page was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.