1 year, 6 months ago by Scott Hardy
Study shows high growth in 2019-20
New statistics show that over the last few years, Hannibal has had one of the best performing economies for a city its' size in the country.
That's according to figures from a study released in September by Heartland Forward. Of the top performing economies in the country for micropolitan areas, Hannibal ranked just outside the top 100, at 107. Executive Director of the Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council, Corey Mehaffey, says that the expansion was especially strong in 2019 and 2020, when Hannibal ranked 16th in the country in short-term Gross Domestic Product growth. The city ranked 28th in GDP growth between 2015 and 2020. Mehaffy says that the increase in short term GDP was due to investments from General Mills, Hannibal Regional, Ehrhardt properties, the City of Hannibal, Dutch Country General Store, B&B Theaters and others. Mehaffey notes that Hannibal was the only city in Missouri to be recognized as a Top 100 Micropolitan in 2020. He says that ranking was driven by the CK Power expansion, BASF expansion and the addition of Jones Poultry. Overall, Hannibal was ranked 237th out of 531 communities.
Both Quincy and the Keokuk-Fort Madison areas weren't included in the overall study, due to a lack of some data from the United States Census Bureau. Heartland Forward describes itself as a " non-partisan, non-profit think and do tank, focused of improving economic performance in the center of the United States". It's based in Jonesboro, Arkansas and is a part of the Walton Family Foundation. The study is available below.
