Boise’s Rebound, By The Numbers

Brookings Institution

Click on the image above to see the full Brookings Institution report.

Boise is among the U.S. cities showing the strongest signs of economic recovery, as we reported yesterday.

But that assessment comes with a big qualification: in the short-term, the Boise economy looks strong.  Its gross metropolitan product — that is, the market value of goods and services produced in the city — grew at a faster rate than the national average in the final quarter of last year.

Boise’s housing prices were up 3.1 percent in the same period, a rate of improvement that only Phoenix surpassed.

The longer-term view is less sunny.  Gross metropolitan product was up only 3.5 percent from its 2009 trough, compared to the national average of 6.6 percent improvement.  Boise’s housing prices remained more than 43 percent below their pre-recession peak, while U.S. housing prices were off by a much less substantial 25 percent.

The Brookings Institution’s MetroMonitor and Mountain Monitor reports released yesterday are accompanied by profiles of the 100 largest U.S. cities.  For short- and long-term information about Boise’s economic recovery, see the city’s profile, available here.