Top 10 “Megaregions”

by Richard Florida

Adapted from “Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life” by Richard Florida.

The core of the U.S. economy is made up of roughly a dozen megaregions that stretch into Canada and, in some cases, Mexico. They generate the great bulk of America’s output, and are increasingly becoming magnets for top talent and jobs.

1. Bos-Wash

Where: Stretches some 500 miles down the East Coast of the U.S. from Boston, through New York, to Washington
Population: 54.3 million
Economy: $2.2 trillion
Leading sectors: Finance, media, biotech
Key creative-class jobs: Computer engineer, fashion designer, investment dealer, lawyer

The Bos-Wash corridor is the world’s second-largest megaregion in terms of economic output — only Greater Tokyo is bigger. Today, it is home to more than 18 percent of all Americans, and its economy is bigger than that of France or the United Kingdom — and it’s more than double the size of India’s or Canada’s. Though broadly based, its economy has considerable specialization and strengths. New York is highly specialized in finance and business services, as well as arts and culture. Boston is known for its biotech industries and education resources.

The region will prevail as one of the most resilient megas. Not only does it contain the seat of U.S. government and banking, it boasts two of the top tech clusters in the world — the Dulles Corridor near Washington, D.C., and Route 128 outside of Boston. In her study of high-tech industry in Silicon Valley and around Route 128, the University of California’s Annalee Saxenian found the superior performance of such clusters turned on the adaptive capabilities of the region’s well-developed networks of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, technologists, and newly minted university talent. Those trends tend to scale in a super-linear fashion.

2. Chi-Pitts

Where: It runs from Pittsburgh and Cleveland through Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis
Population: 46 million
Economy: $1.6 trillion
Leading sectors: Manufacturing, transportation, commercial real estate, retail
Key creative-class jobs: Industrial and mechanical engineers, logistics and supply chain managers

The Chi-Pitts megaregion is anchored by America’s “second city,” Chicago, whose economy is larger than Sweden’s. Chicago’s lakefront renaissance — its incredible 20th-century architecture and marvelous refurbished neighborhoods — illustrates how older communities can highlight their own brand of aesthetics. Much of this is due to the efforts of Mayor Richard Daley, who has reached out beyond landmarks like the new Millennium Park and improved lakefront to bolster many of the city’s neighborhoods by refurbishing smaller community parks and gardens, planting trees, installing public art, and adding hand-painted benches and flower beds.

Those visual characteristics are some of the ties that bind talent to affluent communities. In 2000, more than two-thirds of the residents of downtown Chicago held college degrees — levels that are more typically seen in wealthy suburbs.

But this urban core likely will prosper at the expense of many older industrial cities, suburbs, and outlying rural areas in the Chi-Pitts megaregion. The Clevelands and Pittsburghs of the world will find themselves increasingly squeezed between twin pincers as top business functions gravitate to larger regions like Chicago, and production shifts to centers like Shanghai, China.

3. Char-lanta

Where: It runs from Raleigh-Durham, N.C., through Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta
Population: 22 million
Economy: $730 billion
Leading sectors: Finance, biotech, telecom manufacturing
Key creative-class jobs: Computer systems designer, systems analyst, chief scientist, bioprocessing technician

Think of this mega as a tripod: The regional headquarters center and talent magnet of Atlanta is the main leg, and the other two are made up of the regional financial center in Charlotte and a regional tech center in the North Carolina Research Triangle. Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte have the highest concentration of young residents (between the ages of 25 and 34) in the United States, and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill ranks No. 1 in the country for having the largest percentage of young people with a bachelor’s degree or higher education (45 percent). Looking forward, one can already imagine Chat-lanta and Bos-Wash forming a super-megaregion along the eastern seaboard of the United States, with the territory anchored by New York in the north and Atlanta in the south. More here.