Economic Innovation Group
EIG data shows the area’s economically distressed and prosperous areas by ZIP code.
As of 2016, Memphis hadn’t really recovered from the Great Recession, according to a new report from the Economic Innovation Group (EIG).
The report is called “From Great Recession to Great Reshuffling: Charting a Decade of Change Across American Communities.” It tracks the economic changes in U.S. communities during “a tumultuous decade that included the Great Recession and the subsequent economic recovery.”
Economic Innovation Group
The report’s findings come from public data over the decade between 2006 to 2016. What it found for Memphis was bleak.
After the recession and recovery, about 41 percent of the city of Memphis is still “distressed.” That is the very bottom of a rank of other city descriptions: ”prosperous, comfortable, mid-tier, and at risk.” To sort cities into those categories, EIG tallied performance from seven metrics: high school diplomas, housing vacancy rates, adults not working, poverty rate, median income ratio, change in employment (over the 2006-2016 decade), and change in business establishments over that time.
For all of this, EIG researchers ranked Memphis the third most distressed city in the U.S. With nearly 41 percent of Memphians living in distressed communities. Memphis is ranked behind Bakersfield, Calif. at the top, and second-ranked McAllen, Texas.
Economic Innovation Group
For an example of economic recovery (or not), consider Midtown Memphis, 38104. The poverty rate there jumped from nearly 20 percent in 2007-2011 to almost 23 percent in 2012-2016, according to the data. The area lost nearly 10 percent of businesses from 2007-2011 (the gut of the recession) and had only added back 2.5 percent of them in 2012-2016. As for jobs, the employment rate fell by 10 percent at the beginning of the Recession. By 2012-2016, the rate had not yet fully recovered at only 7.3 percent.
Economic Innovation Group
Midtown is a middle-of-the-road example of Memphis’ turn through the recession and recovery.
Frayser, for example, is listed as one of the state’s most distressed areas.
Economic Innovation Group
Collierville, for another example, is one of the state’s most prosperous.
Economic Innovation Group
EIG researchers said distressed cities like Memphis ”are unlikely to ever recover on current trendlines.”
”Ten years after the financial crisis, these findings are a sobering reminder that far too many communities have yet to see a true recovery,” EIG President and CEO John Lettieri said in a statement. “While there is much to celebrate about the strength of the U.S. economy, the national numbers are becoming less reflective of local realities. We must do far better at ensuring opportunity spreads to every corner of the map.”
