“For the Space Coast to take its place in the top 10 of the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities is a testament to how far this community has come since the depths of the recession and demise of the Shuttle,” said the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast’s (EDC) President and CEO Lynda L. Weatherman. “Judging by the company we keep, including communities with much larger populations, Brevard County is now considered one of the elite metropolitan economies in the nation.”
The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has landed number 10 on the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities 2020: Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained. This year’s ranking solidifies the Space Coast in the competitive rankings of cities such as Seattle, Austin, San Francisco and more.
This year’s number 10 ranking is a jump of 47 spots from the previous year for the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville MSA, the largest change of the top 10 performing cities. The report sites the metro’s “strong performance in several indicators”, including placing 5th in one-year job growth, 10th in high-tech GDP concentration, and 9th in the number of high-tech industries. In addition, the report contributes several EDC project announcements, including Blue Origin, SpaceX, Boeing, and the relocation of Lockheed Martin’s Fleet Ballistic Missile Headquarters, as strong performance indicators in the high-tech sector.
The Milken Institute’s Best-Performing Cities (BPC) U.S. index measures metropolitan areas’ economic performance using outcomes-based metrics such as job creation, wage gains, and technology developments to evaluate the metros’ relative growth, to discover which metro areas offer the greatest opportunities for prosperity and innovation across the nation. Top-performing MSA’s are described to “have cohesive strategies allowing them to weather the economic storms and leverage assets more effectively, providing important lessons that are helpful to peer regions.”
To read the full report and to learn more, visit best-cities.org
Author: SpaceCoast Mike
Raised on the Space Coast, I want to keep North Brevard informed of what's happening. Send Tips / Story Ideas to TitusvilleMedia@gmail.com