America's Most Recession-Proof Cities

Everything may be bigger in Texas - except the impact of the recession.

Six Texas cities took spots on a list of the 21 areas of recession-proof metro areas put out by MetroMonitor, a quarterly report released by Brookings Institute's Metropolitan Policy Program.

The report looks at indicators - such as employment, unemployment, output, home prices, and foreclosure rates - for the nation's 100 largest metro areas through the first quarter of 2010, which ended in March.

About two and a half years after the start of the recession, economic recovery still seems tenuous, according to the report. Housing markets continued to weaken and the expiration of federal homebuyer tax credits could worsen the situation later in the year. Most of the job creation in May was due to temporary hiring for the Census. Unemployment fell for the season from 9.9 to 9.7, but mostly because of the drop in people looking for work - nearly half of the unemployed were looking for work for more than six months.

The report authors Howard Wial and Richard Shearer argue that while most metropolitan areas continue to suffer - some areas haven't been as negatively affected and are recovering better.

Areas that have been hit hardest by the housing crisis, such as cities in Florida and California fared the worst as well as traditional manufacturing cities, like Detroit, in the Great Lakes region. In addition to Texas, smaller metropolitan areas in New York and Pennsylvania had the some of the smallest job losses since the start of the recession. Housing markets in Texas, the Great Plains, and upstate New York are also performing better than the rest of the nation.

Living near a government center or state capitals, which tend to have fewer job cuts and higher spending, also pays off. Of the 15 metropolitan areas with the lowest unemployment rates, one is Washington, D.C. and nine are state capitals dominated by government.

In terms of job grown, the most consistent gains are seen in the South. All but one of the eight other metropolitan areas that gained jobs in the first quarter and the previous quarter (Augusta, Austin, Charleston, Chattanooga, Dallas, Honolulu, Jackson, and Raleigh) are in the Southern United States.

The Top 21 Recession-Proof Cities (in alphabetical order):

Albany, N.Y.

Augusta, Ga.

Austin, Texas

Baton Rouge, La.

Buffalo, N.Y.

Columbia, S.C.

Dallas, Texas

Des Moines, Iowa

El Paso, Texas

Honolulu, Hawaii

Houston, Texas

Jackson, Miss.

Little Rock, Ark.

Madison, Wis.

McAllen, Texas

Oklahoma City, Okla.

Omaha, Neb.

Rochester, N.Y.

San Antonio, Texas

Tulsa, Okla.

Washington, D.C.

The 20 weakest performing metro areas:

Boise City, Id.

Bradenton, Fla.

Cape Coral, Fla.

Detroit, Mich.

Fresno, Calif.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Lakeland, Fla.

Las Vegas, Nev.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Miami, Fla.

Modesto, Calif.

Oxnard, Calif.

Palm Bay, Fla.

Phoenix, Ariz.

Riverside, Calif.

Sacramento, Calif.

Stockton, Calif.

Tampa, Fla.

Toledo, Ohio

Youngstown, Pa.

[heathertt]

We are sadly going into a great depression and when the dollar is devalued the cities will become very dangerous. I would recommend stocking up on storage foods and water. As the more money that is printed by the Federal reserve the less our dollar is worth. if you want to see what is going to happen in the U.S. research the Weimer republic.
Jodi,
http://goldpriceperounce247.com
News on the Economy

[toborgo]

How much of this "proof" against recession is as phony as the bank reforms? Subtract military and munitions makers from this analysis and the whole country is in recession. For example, we borrow (and put USG property, ours, as collateral with the Chinese) and give credits to the Pakistanis, who must buy military equipment from our arms makers. They prosper but not from free enterprise but from robbing all of us of our common wealth, increasingly becoming someone else's property. The Chinese are not buying our weapons, but we are buying their consumer goods. Or, why not sell them some of our aircraft carriers? Ooops, the Chinese are building their own and they will probably go faster than ours, just like their trains. We are pathetic .

[mjsplicer78]

I find it interesting that many of the cities listed in also have major universities in that location, some with huge football programs. How much does that revenue skew studies like this one I wonder.

[tiredofthebs]

Shame. Only recession-proof city I'd live in is DC. Does that count since it's where I'm from originally?!

[geminispyder-2009]

Of course [with the exception of Honolulu] those cities are all recession-proof; they were all sh*t-holes to begin with.

[nojoy01]

by geminispyder-2009 June 24, 2010 6:13 PM EDT

Of course [with the exception of Honolulu] those cities are all recession-proof; they were all sh*t-holes to begin with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Spoken like an incredibly intelligent person with somethng truly profound to add to the discussion.

[stn_sage]

LMAO! Recession-proof? Right! These Brookings studies aren't worth a phony three-dollar bill!! They ought to advertise on the internet: made to order, B.S. reports to justify anything you like!!

[pollroller1]

I Love the South. I was born in the South and hope to be here until I die.

[curse914]

The farthest I have been south is South Carolina. The best thing about the Carolinas was the BBQ, love their take on it, the rest I could do without.

[statins321]

Nice job South!

[Mortar_29]

Notice most of the best cities are in the South!

[IndepTex22]

I did.........;-O