Economic Strength Rankings - Metropolitan Areas

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by the location of the commuting workforce.

They must have at minimum one county and most of the time include several counties.

There are 384 Metropolitan Statistical Areas comprised of 1,180 of the 3,142 counties in the United States (OMB Bulletin 18-04). Please see the PDF version of the rankings which includes the methodology, CLICK HERE.

The following are the 2020 rankings for the 384 Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The column to the left is by order of rank. The column to the right is alphabetical.

The 2020 rankings are based upon the last seventeen years of data (2001-2018).

Please download the PDF of the rankings for an explanation of the methodology for creating the rankings.

Areas with an * have had a change in their geographic definition from last year. Please go to Statistical Area Definitions for a list of the changes.