By Adam Pagnucco.
Recently, officials with the State of Maryland and Montgomery County have expressed concerns over the impact of the incoming Trump administration on their economies. The state government already has looming budget deficits and that occurred before Donald Trump resumes his tenure in the Oval Office. With the state and county considering their options, it’s time to revisit one of the longest-running themes of this site: Montgomery County’s economic competitiveness.
Our source for data in this series is the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which prepares economic data at the national, state, metro area and county levels. Unlike the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, BEA is more of an aggregator of data than a direct producer. Its methodologies blend data from an enormous number of sources to calculate fundamental economic measures, like gross domestic product and personal income. Many of these measures are available for counties, including Montgomery County and most jurisdictions in the Washington region.
This series will analyze a series of indicators comparing Montgomery County to our neighbors. Because growth rates are sensitive to base years, this series will consistently examine performance over three time periods: most recent year (2021-22), most recent five years (2017-22) and most recent ten years (2012-22). We will also examine certain data series over the course of decades. The goal here is to see how we compare to our regional competitors. That’s important for assessing opportunities for our residents as well as implications for our government budgets. And while this series focuses on Montgomery County, state leaders should pay heed too because our county is by far the largest local contributor to Maryland’s budget.
When this series refers to “region,” we use stats applying to the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes jurisdictions in D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. We also list individual stats for ten large jurisdictions in the region: the District of Columbia; Frederick, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland; and Alexandria City and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia. These are our peers, our partners and our rivals.
As you will see from the trends in this series, patterns in our economic performance go beyond any one presidential administration, any one county administration and, in many cases, any one decade. Our indicator trends tend to be deeply entrenched. And they have huge implications for our economic well-being, our governmental functions and our quality of life.
We will begin next week.