Rust Belt Redefined

In terms of area, the Rust Belt is shrinking. As the United States recovers, part of the nation will be left behind. For most post-recessions, "Rust Belt" aptly described the worst hit and last to rebound. Today, you might be referring to Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Times have changed.

The United States Conference of Mayors and The Council for the New American City has a new report out detailing the state of metro economies and where they are heading. I've hosted the map of return-to-peak employment here. Rather than sing the praises of Pittsburgh, I'll focus on this sentence from the report:

Five of the metro areas not slated to recover until the next decade rank in the 100 largest in the country (see Figure 7).

I added the link to "Figure 7", which you can also view in the report. Here are the five:

1. Cleveland
2. Dayton
3. Detroit
4. Toledo
5. Youngstown

That's the new old Rust Belt, the Industrial Heartland left behind. The Detroit-Cleveland axis is an economic disaster. The reset for these cities is just beginning.