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A new study from the Brookings Institution finds that Houston was one of the world’s fastest-growing metropolitan economies in 2014.
The latest Global Metro Monitor looked at the world’s 300 largest metro areas. It then ranked them by growth in employment and GDP per capita, a measure of the region’s economic growth divided by the number of residents. Four U.S. cities made the top fifty — Austin at 38, Houston at 39, Raleigh, North Carolina at 41, and Fresno, California, at 49.
“Houston and Fresno were largely commodities-driven,” says Brookings researcher Joseph Parilla, a co-author of the study, “particularly in Houston, the energy boom that the country’s been experiencing has benefited that regional economy, and then Austin and Raleigh were largely driven by their tech sectors, which is another important sector that has been driving near-term growth in the United States.”
Parilla says that even having four U.S. cities in the top 50 is a novelty. Metro areas in Developing Asia and Eastern Europe dominated the top ranks.
