Providence metro improves in 2015 Best-Performing Cities Report, jumps to 95th place

(Updated 12:01 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Warwick metropolitan area climbed 31 spots to No. 95 in the Milken Institute’s 2015 Best-Performing Cities report, propelled by growth in wages and high-tech jobs.
The nonprofit Milken Institute looks at how well cities are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth by studying jobs, wages and salaries, as well as technology industry growth.
The Providence metro, which includes New Bedford and Fall River in Massachusetts, was included in a list of 200 large cities.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. held the top spot among large metros after having placed fourth for two years in a row – 2013 and 2014. Research, patenting and commercial applications were some of the reasons why this metro landed in first place, according to the Milken Institute.
California secured six of the top 25 slots among large metros, the most in any one state, with four of them in the tech-heavy San Francisco Bay Area.
While the Providence metro had a significant jump from its rank in 2014, it still lagged four other nearby metros – Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Mass., which placed the highest at No. 35, a one-spot drop from 2014’s rank; Worcester, Mass.-Conn., at No. 37, a 57-spot jump from last year’s No. 94; Boston, at No. 51 (No. 44 last year); and Springfield, Mass., No. 87 (No. 109 last year).
Improved rankings in high-tech growth, both last year and in the last five years, contributed to the Providence metro’s rise, according to one of the report authors, Minoli Ratnatunga. She said the region has a relatively diverse high-tech sector, ranking 37th on this measure. But she said job growth was below the national average for the time periods examined, and remains a concern.
Among the nine components that were used to create the rankings, the Providence metro ranked the highest in the following categories:

  • 76th in wage growth from 2012 to 2013.
  • 89th in wage growth from 2008 to 2013.
  • 79th in high-tech GDP location quotient in 2013. (High-tech location quotients measure the industry’s concentration in a particular metro relative to the national average. A metro with an LQ higher than 1 is said to be more concentrated than the United States and vice versa – Providence’s was 0.89 in this category.)
  • 37th in number of high-tech industries above the U.S. average of 1 during 2014. (Providence’s score was 7.)

The metro ranked lowest in the following categories:

  • 125th in five-year job growth from 2009 to 2014.
  • 132nd in short-term job growth.

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