Each of 369 metropolitan statistical areas in the US are represented by a pushpin; darker blue means a higher percentage of workers in manufacturing. Clicking on the pins will reveal the top five manufacturing industries by employment in a given metro area, like yea:
Says Forbes, of the map:
Patterns emerge. Some are expected (timber is big in the Pacific Northwest; cheese dominates Green Bay, Wisc., and auto manufacturing is the top industry in Detroit). Others reveal a shift in American manufacturing toward more lucrative high-tech products.And they still build ships in New Orleans. I did not know that!
The steel industry, once a mainstay of the American economy, is now a top-five manufacturing employer in only seven U.S. metro areas. Pharmaceutical-related manufacturing, a dominant employer in 17 metro areas, is now the top industry in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, once home to one of the country’s largest steel plants. The semiconductor industry is among the top five manufacturing employers in 14 areas, Allentown among them.
