The three largest regions are “Bos-Wash,” “Chi-Pitts” and “So-Cal.” Other mega-regions of the dozen studied include “Hou-Orleans,” “Dal-Austin” and “Char-lanta.”
Bos-Wash is the 500-mile stretch covering the U.S. moneymakers of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It’s home to 18 percent of the U.S. population (56.5 million people) and generates $3.75 trillion. So if Bos-Wash were its own country, its economy would be the fourth largest in the world, behind the U.S., China and Japan and ahead of Germany.
Chi-Pitts stretches from Pittsburgh through Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago and Minneapolis, covering 50 metropolitan areas in total. Nearly 42 million people live in the mega-region and generate $2.3 trillion, about the size of Brazil’s economy, larger than Russia’s and smaller than the U.K.’s.
So-Cal covers Los Angeles to San Diego and includes Tijuana, Mexico, with a population of 21.8 million people, who generate more than $1 trillion annually. Excluding Tijuana, the mega-region’s economy is still bigger than Mexico’s but smaller than Spain’s.
Char-lanta includes 45 metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh and Birmingham. More than 22 million people live within the region and produce more than $1 trillion in output, making its economy larger than South Korea’s and one of the world’s fifteen largest economies.
Denver-Boulder is a smaller mega-region Florida studied, with only 5 million inhabitants, but the region as its own country would still rank among the world’s 50 largest economies.
Together, all of the mega-regions produce more than $13 trillion.
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