City Economies: 20 Years of Change

Top 25 U.S. metropolitan economies

This table ranks metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), not city limits, by comparable annual economic output. An MSA includes a central city and surrounding connected communities. The BEA discontinued its standard metropolitan GDP series, and the historical rankings currently cover 2006–2023. Later years are not available in the archived source.

Choose a year from 2006–2023. This is independent of the state timeline below.

Selected metro year:

2023

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The ranking uses current-dollar metropolitan GDP, shown in billions of U.S. dollars (not inflation-adjusted). Metro areas may cross state boundaries. Source provenance and geographic vintage require final independent review.

Choose a place and year

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Three largest cities and Census places by population

Population rankings are available for 2006–2025. Each year lists the three largest incorporated places in the Census source. The annual population source has one place each for Hawaii and D.C.; Hawaii also has a separate five-place ACS comparison below. Select 2009–2024 for household income and civilian employed-resident estimates covering the five years ending in your selected year, with published 90% margins of error. These cover a five-year period; population uses the July 1 date shown. See the city economic notes below for boundary differences.

Workplace jobs in the population-selected places

Select 2006–2023 to see covered jobs located in the selected places and their leading industries. These are beginning-of-Q2 job counts, including multiple jobs held by one person.

Three largest workplace job centers

Ranked among Census places, including cities and census-designated places. This measures covered workplace jobs within place boundaries; it does not rank metropolitan GDP or individual employers.

Hawaii: five largest ACS population estimates

This comparison uses census-designated places and five-year survey estimates. The annual July 1 population series remains in the table above.

How to read these comparisons

• State political control: Governor and both legislative chambers, including divided government and vacancies when documented.
• City political control: Mayor and council, where historical records exist. Nonpartisan elections will not be assigned an assumed party.
• Economic indicators: Population, employment, income, poverty, housing affordability, and state GDP, with dates and geographic boundaries.
• Comparisons: A change during an administration does not prove the administration caused it.
• Missing information: “Not yet researched” means no verified value has been entered, not that the value was zero.

Official research sources

• U.S. Census Bureau — population and economic data
• Bureau of Economic Analysis — state GDP
• Bureau of Labor Statistics — local unemployment
• NCSL — state partisan composition

Research progress, Batch 178: Governor history is drafted for all 50 states, 2006–2026, with verification pending. Legislative records cover all 50 states for all 21 years: 1050 of 1,050 records (100%); 0 remain. Source checks cover 1000 original-PDF and 50 current-webpage records. Reporting dates vary and are separate from July 1 governor dates. The explicitly flagged Minnesota 2012 source discrepancy is resolved. Governing arrangements, final verification and browser/accessibility checks remain pending. Annual state GDP is populated for all 50 states and DC, 2006–2025, using BEA’s September 30, 2026 revision. Full-year 2026 GDP is not yet available. Unemployment, labor force, employment and midyear resident population are also populated for 2006–2025. BLS 2025 averages exclude October because data were not collected during the federal shutdown. Census SAIPE income and poverty estimates, with 90% confidence intervals, are populated for 2006–2024. Incomes use each year’s dollars. All four housing measures are populated for all 50 states and D.C. across 18 standard ACS 1-year releases from 2006–2024, excluding unavailable 2020: 3,672 records. Dollar amounts are nominal survey-year dollars. Of these, 366 burden percentages are calculated from Census counts, with approximate 90% margins of error clearly labeled; published records retain their original margins of error. Published-MOE reconciliation for calculated rows remains pending. City population rankings for 2006–2025 now include 4,940 records, with Hawaii and D.C. exceptions and Census series/boundary changes explained. City income and resident employment now include 7,896 estimates across 3,948 place-period records, covering sixteen ACS five-year periods ending in 2009–2024; 4 historical Macon-Bibb place-periods remain unavailable because the place identities do not match. ACS five-year periods ending before 2009 do not exist. Hawaii’s separate comparison now covers 80 place-periods and 240 population/income/employment estimates with published MOEs, across periods ending 2009–2024 (208 newly populated estimates; 32 already available for Honolulu). Workplace jobs and industry profiles now cover 5,430 distinct place-year records in 2006–2023, with job-center rankings for all 900 source-available state-years. Batch 178 adds 1,209 profiles and 196 state-year rankings for 2006–2009. Eighteen state-years lack source workplace data: Massachusetts (2006–2010), D.C. (2006–2009), Alaska (2017–2023) and Michigan (2022–2023). Four historical Honolulu population-selected profiles (2006–2009) remain unmatched to current place geography; Hawaii job-center rankings are populated. LODES 8.4 has no data after 2023. Geographic reconciliation, local-government and metro research remain pending. Source: National Governors Association historical governors and current governors.