Staff Report
Published Nov. 30, 2009

An analysis by Forbes magazine has put South Carolina’s five largest metro areas among cities recovering the fastest from the recession.

Forbes ranked the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget using unemployment rate, size of regional economy, foreclosures, home prices and sales rates. Forbes then averaged those rankings and came up with its list.

“While there is no foolproof method for resisting recession, a common thread in thriving cities is an economy fed by multiple industries,” Forbes said.

The Augusta-Aiken and Columbia MSAs ranked higher than 50 on the list, and Charlotte-Gastonia, N.C., Greenville-Mauldin-Easley and Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville ranked in the bottom 50.

The fastest-recovering region was Omaha, Neb., and the slowest-recovering of the 100 MSAs was Lakeland, Fla. Florida, which has been riddled with foreclosures and plummeting home prices, held six of the bottom 10 spots on the Forbes list.

The complete list of cities and MSAs can be found at the Forbes Web site. Here is a list of metro areas in South Carolina:

Recession recovery among S.C. regions

Overall* 22 35 54 66 75

Metropolitan Statistical Area Augusta-Aiken Columbia Charlotte-Gastonia, N.C. Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Charleston-N. Charleston-Summerville

Economic 18 37 73 43 25

Jobless 56 56 82 70 61

Home price 20 7 39 16 58

Foreclosures 23 37 47 58 66

Sales rate 54 85 79 72 85

Source: Analysis by Forbes magazine

*Overall ranking is the final score used to rank the metropolitan statistical areas after compiling and averaging category rankings at right.