Historical report preserved from an archived 2008 WKRG story.
A 2008 economic forecast cited by WKRG placed Mobile among the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, projecting the nation’s largest change in gross metropolitan product between 2007 and 2012.
The Moody’s Economy.com forecast projected a 34% increase for Mobile. The report attributed regional momentum in part to the planned $3.7 billion ThyssenKrupp steel plant and pointed to automotive manufacturing investment elsewhere in Alabama.
The study examined 363 cities with an urban core of at least 50,000 people and also considered population growth, job growth, housing starts and personal income growth.
This is a record of a 2008 forecast, not a current economic ranking or evaluation of whether the projection was realized.