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Thursday, December 13, 2018  09:00 AM  (12)

County-Level Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Estimates Now Available

Many are familiar with the economic measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the sum of all goods and services produced in a region. Estimates of GDP are widely used to measure both the size and economic health of nations and subregions.  In the United States, national GDP estimates are reported quarterly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. State and metropolitan area estimates of GDP are also produced annually by the BEA.

For the first time, the BEA has released annual estimates of GDP for more than 3,000 individual counties in the United States. These prototype statistics include estimates of GDP by county from 2012 through 2015.

In 2015, Allegheny County’s $85.9 billion in annual GDP represented 63.5% of the $135.2 billion GDP produced within the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). When combined with Indiana, Lawrence, and Greene counties, the annual GDP of the ten-county southwestern Pennsylvania region was estimated to be over $145 billion. Outside of Allegheny County, the GDP of regional counties ranged from $2.9 billion for Armstrong County to $14.9 billion for Washington County.

Growth in Washington County currently gives it the 2^nd largest GDP within southwestern Pennsylvania. Between 2014 and 2015, GDP of Washington County grew by over 13%, nearly 6 times faster than the 2.2% average growth rate for the Pittsburgh MSA over the same period and the fastest GDP growth for any county in Pennsylvania that year. Among counties with annual GDP of $10 billion or greater, only Gloucester County in New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, had a faster growth rate between 2014 and 2015. 

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

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