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San Jose and San Francisco in the U.S. state of California posted some highest scores on Gallup's Economic Confidence Index in 2014 released Thursday, underscoring gains made in the country's booming technology sector.
Several of the best-performing U.S. cities, in terms of economic confidence, are known for their booming technology or research-related sectors. They include the Silicon Valley, which plays a heavy role in the economies of San Francisco and San Jose, and the Research Triangle Park in Raleigh of North Carolina.
In tandem with an improving national economy, the country's largest metropolitan areas are showing signs of strengthening economic confidence, Gallup said. As was seen in Gallup's Job Creation Index, many of the leading cities with the highest index scores have a strong presence in tech- or STEM-related fields, an economic specialty that continues to see rapid growth.
San Jose boasted an Economic Confidence Index score of +12, while San Francisco and its surrounding area registered a +9. Both scores are increases from 2012-2013, and the two areas now notably surpass the index score in the Washington, D.C. metro area, which stands at +5.
Additionally, Minneapolis, Minnesota and its surrounding areas, as well as the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area in Florida and Raleigh, North Carolina, had positive index scores in 2014.
Overall, the average Economic Confidence Index score for the top 50 metro areas was -10, compared with -15 for the entire United States. Although the index is a measure of how Americans see the national economy faring, the different scores from city to city suggest that many Americans judge the state of the country's economy by how well their local economy is performing.
Raleigh, North Carolina saw the largest improvement in its index score from 2012-2013, improving 10 points from -9 to +1 in 2014. In 2012-2013, only three metro areas rated the national economy well enough to have a positive Economic Confidence Index score, compared with 6 in 2014, as well as another three metropolitan areas that recorded a score of zero.
The areas with the lowest index scores among the top 50 metro areas are Memphis, at -24, and Birmingham, Alabama, at -26. These scores are well below the average index score for the top 50 metro areas, and also trail the national score by a wide margin.
Birmingham also saw the biggest drop in confidence in 2014 relative to its 2012-2013 standing, with its index score falling by 7 points.
