Charleston has significantly improved its gross domestic product from the depths of the Great Recession, according to recent data from the Brookings Institution.

In its Metro Monitor for September, Brookings examines the 100 largest U.S. metro areas for four key metrics:

gross product

home prices

jobs

unemployment

Those indicators are studied at the depths of the recession, during the recovery, and where they stand currently. Brookings then ranked the cities based on improvement in each of those categories.

When it comes to rebounding from its lowest point, Charleston ranked No. 9 in GDP improvement, gaining 17 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to Q3 2013. It ranked 12th in job creation, gaining 9 percent from Q4 2009.

Looking at other local metro areas, Charlotte (which includes several South Carolina counties) ranked ninth in employment, gaining 9.5 percent from Q4 2009. Its current job creation engine has been leisure and hospitality, which grew 8.2 percent within the last year.

Greenville was the best-performing local metro in terms of unemployment, ranking 22nd. It has sliced 4.1 points off its jobless rate since Q3 2009.

Combining all four metrics into a comprehensive ranking, Brookings rated Charleston 17th, Charlotte No. 23, Greenville 35th, Columbia 62nd and Augusta (which also includes portions of South Carolina) 88th.

There are indications that Columbia and Augusta are gaining momentum as well. Columbia was No. 9 in terms of job creation between the second and third quarters of this year. Augusta ranked 24th in GDP improvement between Q2 and Q3.