A few years ago, Zach Hoyt, local attorney, wrote a blog post here that expressed his concern about the slow growth of the Memphis MSA GDP (Gross Domestic Product), pointing out that Memphis ranking was dropping when compared to Birmingham, Little Rock, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and St. Louis.

As he pointed out, Memphis was #2 in 2001, but it slid to #3 by 2005, #6 by 2010, and last place in 2013 and 2014.

It led us to wonder if Memphis improved its competitive position with the 2016 GDP amounts.  Our check showed that Memphis MSA has eased into seventh place ahead of Little Rock but continues to lose ground with those at the top.

Our GDP has shown steady, if unexciting, levels of growth. In the past five years, it has done better than New Orleans and Little Rock.  Unfortunately, that is less than half of the growth in Louisville and Nashville and behind Oklahoma City, Birmingham, and St. Louis.

Essentially, Memphis is running in place, which means that we should not be surprised that we are generally remaining in the same relative position.  Meanwhile, many of our competitors have recorded impressive bursts of growth that are needed here if we are to catapult our community to a better economic future.

Looking only at Tennessee cities, Memphis is second to Nashville in per capita GDP.

Here’s the most recent per capita GDPs for the metro areas used by Mr. Hoyt followed by the total amount of that metro’s GDP:

$59,316 – Nashville MSA ($124.2 billion)

$53,245 – New Orleans MSA ($77.2 billion)

$51,166 – Louisville MSA ($75 billion)

$50,129 – St. Louis MSA ($159.9 billion)

$48,405 – Birmingham MSA ($62.7 billion)

$47,819 – Oklahoma City MSA (70.2 billion)

$46,269 – Memphis MSA ($71.5 billion)

$46,131 – Little Rock MSA ($37.8 billion)

 

The following are GDP comparisons for Tennessee MSAs: 

$59,316 – Nashville MSA ($124.2 billion)

$46,269 – Memphis MSA ($71.5 billion)

$41,267 – Jackson MSA ($5.3 billion)

$40,492 – Chattanooga MSA ($22.3 billion)

$40,068 – Knoxville MSA ($40.1 billion)

$33,613 – Clarksville MSA ($9.4 billion)

The per capita GDP for Tennessee is $43,688.

 

The following is the five-year growth in the GDP for metro areas monitored by The Memphis Economy website:

41.7 % – Nashville MSA

30.6% – Charlotte MSA

29.0% – Louisville MSA

26.8% – Jacksonville MSA

23.0% – Kansas City MSA

22.5% – Omaha MSA

19.8% – Indianapolis MSA

18.2% – Cincinnati MSA

16.3% – St. Louis MSA

15.8% – Oklahoma City MSA

12.8% – Greensboro MSA

12.6% – Memphis MSA

10.1% – Little Rock MSA

8.5% – Tulsa MSA

2.3% – New Orleans MSA

 

The following is the 10-year growth in the GDP for the metro areas monitored by the Memphis Economy website:

61.2% – Nashville MSA

42.8% – Louisville MSA

42.0% – Omaha MSA

39.0% – Charlotte MSA

38.2% – Indianapolis MSA

37.8% – Oklahoma City MSA

36.2% – Kansas City MSA

34.4% – Cincinnati MSA

33.3% – Tulsa MSA

29.2% – Little Rock MSA

29.0% – St. Louis MSA

27.3% – Greensboro MSA

25.2% – Birmingham MSA

21.8% – Jacksonville MSA

19% – Memphis MSA

8.9% – New Orleans MSA

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