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Manhattan Leads America’s Surging Information Economy

Manhattan Leads America’s Surging Information Economy

(Bloomberg) -- Manhattan leads the way among U.S. counties in the surging American information economy, propelled by traditional industries such as publishing along with newer technology fields.

That mix helped generate about $108 billion for the economy of Manhattan’s New York County in 2018 -- and topped outposts such as Silicon Valley and Seattle that are known for their digital prowess, according to a new report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Los Angeles County -- with its large movie industry and a growing number of tech firms contributing $102 billion last year -- holds the No. 2 spot in the U.S. information economy.

Manhattan Leads America’s Surging Information Economy

Information includes old-line media publishing, broadcasting and movie production as well as newer services such as data processing and hosting services. Broadcasting remains by far the largest segment -- accounting for more than 40% of the total output -- but data processing is growing much faster.

In the No. 3 position, Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara County -- home of numerous tech giants including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. -- added $81 billion to its economy last year from the information sector. Washington’s King County, where Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. are headquartered, added $65 billion, making that county the fourth largest in the information sector.

Georgia’s Fulton County -- the Atlanta area that includes Tyler Perry’s film studio as well as numerous fintech companies -- rounds out the top five; it added $32 billion to its economy last year from information businesses.

Average weekly wages for information workers as of the second quarter of this year were led by the California counties of San Mateo ($6,113) and Santa Clara ($5,983).

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net;Wei Lu in New York at wlu30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah McGregor at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net, Anita Sharpe, Vince Golle

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.