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The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released estimates of 2013 gross domestic product for metropolitan statistical areas. Ten of the 15 Ninth District MSAs beat the national MSA average of 1.7 percent growth.
Billings was the top-ranked MSA in the Ninth District, at 7.1 percent, 11th best out of the 381 U.S. MSAs in growth rate, followed closely by Bismarck at 6.9 percent. However, not all metros are seeing strong growth. Both Great Falls and Missoula lost GDP in 2013 when compared with 2012, and three others failed to match the modest national average for MSAs.
MSA growth also has varying influence on state economies because output concentration differs across district states. Minnesota MSAs, for example, account for 84 percent of the total output for the state, while Montana MSAs account for only 38 percent of total output.
