Regional Economic Data: State, Metro & County Level Sources

Why Regional Data Matters

National data tells one story. Regional data reveals:

• Local economic conditions
• Geographic disparities
• Investment opportunities
• Policy effectiveness

State-Level Data

BEA State GDP

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

IQ Score: 95

• Quarterly state GDP
• Industry breakdown
• Real & nominal measures

FRED Format: [STATE]NGSP (e.g., CANGSP for California)

BLS State Employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

IQ Score: 96

• Monthly employment by state
• Unemployment rates
• Industry detail (QCEW)

FRED Format: [STATE]UR (e.g., CAUR for California unemployment)

Census State Population

Source: Census Bureau

IQ Score: 97

• Annual population estimates
• Age/sex breakdown
• Migration flows

Metro Area Data

MSA Employment

BLS provides employment data for 380+ metro areas:

• Monthly employment
• Industry breakdown
• Unemployment rates

IQ Score: 93 (smaller metros have larger margins of error)

BEA Metro GDP

Annual GDP for metro areas:

• Component industries
• Per capita measures
• 2-year lag on annual data

Housing Data by Metro

Case-Shiller covers 20 major metros:

• Home price indices
• Monthly, seasonally adjusted
• Repeat-sales methodology

FRED Format: [METRO]STHPI

County-Level Data

Census County Business Patterns

Annual county-level data:

• Employment by industry
• Establishment counts
• Payroll data

IQ Score: 91 (suppression issues for small counties)

BEA County Income

Personal income by county:

• Per capita income
• Total personal income
• 2-year lag

BLS Quarterly Census (QCEW)

Most detailed geographic employment:

• County-level
• 6-digit NAICS industry
• Quarterly

Federal Reserve District Data

Regional Fed Banks

Each of the 12 Fed banks produces regional data:

Beige Book

Qualitative regional summary:

• 8 times per year
• Anecdotal business conditions
• Useful for context

Data Challenges

Timeliness

Regional data typically lags national by:

• Employment: Same month (but larger revisions)
• GDP: 1-2 quarters
• Income: 1-2 years

Sample Size Issues

Smaller geographies = larger margins of error

• National unemployment ±0.2%
• State unemployment ±0.5%
• Metro unemployment ±1.0%+

Suppression

Census suppresses data to protect confidentiality:

• Small employers in specific industries
• Can make county analysis difficult

Best Practices

Comparing Regions

• Use same time period

• Adjust for population (per capita)

• Consider industry mix

• Account for cost of living

Building Regional Models

Key series to include:

• Employment (BLS LAUS)
• GDP (BEA)
• Population (Census)
• Housing (FHFA HPI)

Finding Specific Data

DataSetIQ can filter by geography:

• Search "unemployment California"
• Filter by state or metro
• Compare across regions

Alternative Sources

Private Data

• LinkedIn workforce data
• Yelp economic activity
• Cell phone mobility data

University Centers

Many states have economic research centers:

• California: UCLA Anderson
• Texas: Real Estate Center
• Michigan: RSQE

All regional economic data sources indexed on DataSetIQ with geographic filtering.