... economic recovery has progressed at an uneven pace on the local level. Based on Fitch Ratings' review of sales tax data, the most populated 100 cities experienced varying levels of change in economic activity since 2008, the year the Great Recession began. Significant Degree of Local Variation: Individual city performance was not fully explained by geography as adjacent cities recorded widely different results and, contrary to expectations, some inland cities outperformed coastal areas. Approximately 25 of the top 100 cities had not yet regained pre-recession levels of sales activity in 2013. Sales Tax as Economic Indicator: Fitch believes retail sales activity provides a useful indicator of overall economic activity. Sales tax data provides a meaningful estimate of retail sales activity, allowing for comparisons of cities across the state on a fairly consistent and timely basis GDP, Employment, Sales Aligned: As shown in the chart...
