Jun. 10—TRIAD — The metropolitan area that includes High Point has made economic progress in recent years but has a comparative lack of productive high-tech companies, a sector that has been the primary driver of job and wage growth in recent years, according to a new report from a California-based think tank.
The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area — which covers Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties — ranks 108th overall out of 200 "large cities" in the U.S. in this year's "Best-Performing Cities" report from the Milken Institute. The area ranked 138th last year and 147th in the 2021 report.
The analysis is based on measures of labor market performance, including trends in employment and wages; the presence and growth of high-tech and digital industries; and cities' ability to provide access to the housing and digital services residents need. Elements of labor market performance account the majority of the components measured.
The rankings for this year are primarily based on 2021 data, the report's executive summary said, "offering an assessment of cities' performance amidst the rapidly changing social, demographic, and economic landscape following the initial year of the pandemic."
The report cited three trends from the latest data:
—Cities' performance is closely linked to job and wage growth, which is primarily driven by the expansion of high-tech industries.
—While large cities tend to have a stronger presence of high-tech industries, the fastest growth in this sector was observed in the top-ranked small cities.
—With the resumption of travel and tourism throughout 2021, the leisure and hospitality industry drove the highest improvements in this year's rankings.
The Greensboro-High Point area has a relatively high rank, 24th, for its high-tech "location quotient," a measure of the industry's relative size in a metro area, but the gross domestic product from the area's high-tech sector ranks only 173rd out of the 200 cities.
The metro area's next best ranking is in housing affordability, 72nd.
Its wage 2020-21 wage growth ranked 78th.
The Winston-Salem metro area — which covers Forsyth, Davidson, Davie, Yadkin and Surry counties — ranked 82nd among large cities.
The Raleigh metro area was the highest-performing North Carolina metro of any size, ranking third among large cities. That was thanks in large part to being 10th in high-tech concentration, an area that has had rapid job and wage growth. Raleigh ranked 14th in five-year job growth and 15th in wage growth.