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Denver economy makes top 20

Metro Denver economy last year ranked 18th out of 381 metro areas

Metro Denver economy last year ranked 18th out of 381 metro areas in terms of the value of its goods and services produced, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report released Tuesday.

Led by the natural resources sector, metro Denver’s GDP (gross domestic product) was $178.8 billion in 2013, up from $168.7 billion in 2012, the BEA report said. That gave the metro area 4.3 percent GDP growth last year, ranking it 47th out of 381 in percent change.

Greeley experienced 10.1 percent GDP growth last year, spurred by the activity in the Niobrara Shale oil field in northeast Colorado. Greeley’s GDP was $9.5 billion in 2013, up from $8.3 billion in 2012.

That ranked Greeley second in the nation in terms of GDP growth, behind only Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington, which is home to two large oil refineries.

Nationwide, real GDP increased in 292 of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas in 2013, led by widespread growth in finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing, nondurable goods manufacturing and professional and business services, according to the BEA report.

Collectively, real GDP growth for U.S. metro areas increased 1.7 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.6 percent in 2012.

 

From an original post by Heather Draper  for the Denver Business Journal