The Milwaukee five-county area (“the Milwaukee region”) has a gigantic economy, which shouldn’t be surprising because the USA has a gigantic economy that is based around urban forms of agglomeration or accumulation. Urban areas, and patterns of urbanization (such as the Interstate system and telecommunications networks), drive the economy. We probably don’t think about this all that much, because the City of Milwaukee is often called “small market” in terms of media consciousness and potential sports viewership, and because the population is relatively small compared to a large region like Chicago. For all that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2018 the Milwaukee region produced a Gross Domestic Product of approximately $100 Billion (chained 2012 dollars); by comparison, a seven-county Chicago metropolitan region produced a GDP of approximately $500 billion, and the five-county area alone produces one-third of Wisconsin’s GDP (!
The Miller Park Economic Impact Analysis is Bad, and that Matters to Milwaukee
