National statistics provide an averages-based narrative, but they do not take into account the real causes of economic expansion and recession. We can only begin to understand the various and complicated causes of more general U.S., and occasionally even worldwide, economic patterns by looking at America’s microeconomies, which include the cities, towns, suburbs, and rural communities. However, the information required to comprehend why one town prospers while its neighbor fails has long been lacking, and the impacts of these regional economic successes and failures on the lives of individuals, organizations, and communities have often gone unappreciated.
The U.S. economy shrank by 3.4% in 2020, the latest year for which localized official economic data was available. However, there were major differences between cities across the nation. For instance, Austin’s GDP expanded by 1.2% while Las Vegas’ economy shrank by 10.2%. A portion of this growth discrepancy can be attributed to city residents’ varying capacity to work from home during the COVID-19 epidemic. Nevertheless, some microeconomies will see a decline even while the country’s economy grows reasonably strongly.
