Despite the onset of recession, the economy of metro Atlanta held its ground as the 10th largest in the country in 2008, the Bureau of Economic Analysis has reported.
Atlanta’s “gross domestic product” amounted to $269.8 billion, slightly more than in 2007, the bureau said.
That put Atlanta just ahead of the $261.3 billion economy of metro Miami, which includes Ft. Lauderdale and Pompano Beach.
On average, metro area economies grew in 2008, as the steepest drops in the economy occurred late in 2008 and into this year.
At the top of the charts for 2008 was metropolitan New York -- which includes parts of northern New Jersey as well as Long Island -- with an economy of $1.26 trillion. Second-largest was Los Angeles-Long Beach with a GDP of $717.9 billion.
Metro Chicago was third with $520.7 billion.
If it were a sovereign country, Atlanta would rank 43rd on the Central Intelligence Agency list of global economies. Metro Atlanta would finish ahead of Chile, Peru and the Czech Republic and just behind Hong Kong, Norway and Romania.
Metro Atlanta last year represented slightly less than 2 percent of the U.S. economy, which had a GDP last year of about $14.2 trillion.
Here are the top 11 metro areas:
1. New York $1.26 trillion.
2. Los Angeles $717.9 billion
3. Chicago $520.7 billion.
4. Houston $403 billion
5. Washington, DC $395.7 billion
6. Dallas $379.9 billion
7. Philadelphia $331.9 billion
8. San Francisco $310.8 billion
9. Boston $299.6 billion
10. Atlanta $269.8 billion
11. Miami $261.2 billion
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