Author: Steven Pennington
Three of North Carolina’s largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, Raleigh, and Durham-Chapel Hill receive frequent attention for being great places to find jobs, driving innovation through excellent universities, rebounding well since the Great Recession, attracting large company expansions, etc. But some of North Carolina’s other smaller MSAs have shown strong growth in recent years as well, adding both people and jobs.
The Atlanta Fed is undertaking a project to explore economic dynamism in small cities across the country. They point to a 2012 report suggesting that many small cities are growing at faster rates than has been seen in decades. As they point out, “…studies have shown that many small cities are economic hubs for surrounding rural communities with strong anchor institutions such as hospitals, higher education institutions, faith-based organizations, and municipal or other local government enterprises.” The Atlanta Fed also points out that small cities are most abundant in the South. Jacksonville, Greenville, Wilmington, and Asheville1 have all experienced fast-growing populations over the last decade. In fact, these four MSAs (which are made up of eight counties in total) accounted for 12 percent of the state’s net population growth from 2005 to 2014.
All four have seen faster job growth than the state as a whole. In total, these metros gained more than 23,000 jobs over the last decade, accounting for 14 percent of the state’s net job growth over that time.
Unfortunately, wage growth in these metros has been less consistent than their growth in populations or job levels. While Greenville and Jacksonville have achieved higher wage growth than seen at the state level, Wilmington and Asheville have both lagged the state’s performance.
Not all small MSAs in North Carolina have experienced this sort of growth, however. While all of our state’s metros are growing in population (some very modestly), several have seen both negative job and negative wage growth since 2005, including Burlington, Fayetteville, New Bern, Rocky Mount, and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton. The challenges vary among these cities, though industry composition changes and demographic shifts have contributed to a reshuffling of fortune over the last few decades. Nevertheless, we are hopeful that the recent growth in Jacksonville, Greenville, Asheville, and Wilmington bodes well for improved economic prosperity across all of North Carolina.
Footnotes:
1. MSAs are based on the Office of Management and Budget's 2013 definitions.
2. 2014 populations represent the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management's provisional estimates, which are subject to revision.