DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - A study from publication AdvisorSmith placed Decatur in the top 10 when ranking the best manufacturing economies in the U.S.
The city ranked No. 7 nationally and was in front of Kankakee, Ill., which placed No. 8 on the list. The top manufacturing economy on the list was Elkhart, Ind.
AdvisorSmith said it ranked these cities based on four factors: growth rate of manufacturing output, manufacturing output per capita, location quotient for manufacturing workers and growth rate in manufacturing jobs. The data used is from 2019 and earlier.
Decatur's manufacturing output growth rate from 2015-2019 was -6.9 percent, but the city boasted a strong manufacturing output per capita (2019) of $27,839, a location quotient (2019) of 2.7 and an employment growth rate (2015-2019) of 2.4 percent.
Decatur also ranked fourth among small cities for top cities where U.S. manufacturing is thriving. A small city for this study is defined as a population of less than 150,000 people.
Columbus, Ind., was highest ranked small city for thriving American manufacturing economies in the study.
Click here to read the full study.
