It’s a match-up of two “super” economies.
Los Angeles vs. New England (aka Boston) are indeed American heavyweights. Their metropolitan areas rank No. 2 and No. 10 nationally in population, respectively, and they’re both home to dynamic industries creating cutting-edge products and services.
(Oh, I hear they do have excellent football teams, too!)
So, who might be crowned business champ in head-to-head competition?
Amid Super Bowl fever, I tossed into my trusty spreadsheet various bits of government data plus stats from Experian, National Association of Homebuilders, CoreLogic, Gallup, PwC, St. Louis Fed, AAA and Rentonomics, creating two dozen yardsticks of recent economic performance for these two metropolitan areas. Then we sized up which region had more business muscle!
We kick off by comparing how friendly each region is to local household budgets …
Year’s income: Households make more in Boston, $99,350 to $84,632 in L.A.
Poverty rate: That income helps fewer struggle financially in Boston: 9.6 percent vs. 14.1 percent.
Local inflation rate: Tied at 3.2 percent.
Average total debts: Boston wins with less, $125,377 to $132,929.
Credit score: Boston pays bills better! Average “FICO” of 726 vs. 703.
Gasoline price: The price we grumble about. Boston’s easily the winner, $2.43 a gallon to our $3.32.
So L.A.’s got a big and early deficit as we ponder job markets …
Employees: Size can matter, so L.A. wins, 6.78 million workers to 2.69 million.
Unemployment rate: Seems Boston is an easier place to find work: its joblessness rate is 2.4 percent vs. 4.2 percent.
Job growth, annualized: Boston is hiring faster: 1.9 percent a year vs. 1.1 percent in L.A.
Commuting time: If you’ve ever driven through Boston you can understand why L.A. wins, 30.8 minutes to 31.4 minutes.
As we pass the half-way point — sorry, no intermission entertainment — we score each town’s business backbone with L.A. still trailing …
Gross Domestic Product: L.A. wins the battle of total output, $1.02 trillion to $439 billion in Boston.
Output growth: Pace of GDP upswing is tied at 2.8 percent.
Economic strength: One regional business index says Boston wins, 3.4 percent growth to 3.1 percent.
Venture capital: Tech-savvy Boston wins, getting $10.3 billion of tech seed cash to $5.43 billion.
Population growth: Boston added people faster this decade, 0.6 percent annualized rate to 0.4 percent.
Well-being index: When scored on livability, Boston wins again! It ranked 39th best out of 186 metros ranked vs. No. 53 for L.A.
L.A. needs a huge comeback as the final chapter begins. Now let’s tackle real estate markets …
Median home price: L.A. wins, $620,000 to $470,000 … assuming price is a popularity gauge!
Affordability: Boston wins with 39 percent of homes “affordable” vs. 8 percent here.
Home sales: It’s been a rough year but Boston drops less: down 4 percent vs. L.A.’s 18 percent dip.
Homeownership rate: Boston wins 62 percent to 48 percent.
Rents: L.A. wins, with cheaper two-bedroom units running $1,752 vs. $2,093.
Vacant housing units: More availability is bad for property owners but good for meeting housing needs. Boston wins, 7 percent to 6 percent.
Late house payments: L.A.’s better at bill-paying with 2.5 percent of its mortgages 30 days or more delinquent vs. 3.2 percent for Boston.
Building permits: No bragging rights for either squad! Boston wins with 1 percent growth vs. L.A.’s 2 percent drop.
This game adds up to a New England (nee Boston) victory, 16-6 — plus two ties!
Of course, I’m sure folks will argue with the referee’s thinking in this game, too.
