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Mapping a nation of regional clusters

Harvard Business School U.S. Economic Development Administration
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  • I am an Economic Developer

    Are you trying to determine a strategy for your organization, region, or industry? Then follow our Economic Developer path.

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  • I am a Policymaker

    Are you hoping to effect change in the economic landscape through federal, state, or local government policy choices? Then follow our Policymaker path.

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  • I am an Academic or Researcher

    Are you interested in learning more about clusters and conducting action-oriented research? Then follow our Academic or Researcher path.

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  • I am in the Private Sector

    Are you looking into the economic competitiveness of a region through the lens of the private sector? Then follow our Private Sector path.

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  • Data by Cluster

    A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

    View Data by Cluster
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different clusters on a national level?

    How do I find my region’s strongest cluster(s)?

    How do I identify which cluster my industry belongs in?

    How do I compare local vs traded clusters?

    Are there overlaps between the clusters?

  • Data by Region

    A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

    View Data by Region
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different regions?

    How do I build a region to meet my needs?

    How is my region doing, especially in comparison to its peer regions?

    How do I find subregions related to my region?

    How do I use the map view to visualize economic data across the country?

  • Organizations

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  • Blog

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  • Resources

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  • Community

    The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

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Home
  • I am an Economic Developer

    Are you trying to determine a strategy for your organization, region, or industry? Then follow our Economic Developer path.

    Follow Economic Developer Path
  • I am a Policymaker

    Are you hoping to effect change in the economic landscape through federal, state, or local government policy choices? Then follow our Policymaker path.

    Follow Policymaker Path
  • I am an Academic or Researcher

    Are you interested in learning more about clusters and conducting action-oriented research? Then follow our Academic or Researcher path.

    Follow Academic or Researcher Path
  • I am in the Private Sector

    Are you looking into the economic competitiveness of a region through the lens of the private sector? Then follow our Private Sector path.

    Follow Private Sector Path
  • Data by Cluster

    A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

    View Data by Cluster
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different clusters on a national level?

    How do I find my region’s strongest cluster(s)?

    How do I identify which cluster my industry belongs in?

    How do I compare local vs traded clusters?

    Are there overlaps between the clusters?

  • Data by Region

    A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

    View Data by Region
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different regions?

    How do I build a region to meet my needs?

    How is my region doing, especially in comparison to its peer regions?

    How do I find subregions related to my region?

    How do I use the map view to visualize economic data across the country?

  • Organizations

    View Organizations
  • Blog

    View Blog
  • Resources

    View Resources
  • Community

    The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

    View Community Page
EXPLORE

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Harvard Business School U.S. Economic Development Administration

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Learn

  • Clusters 101
  • User Personas
  • FAQ
  • Cluster Mapping Methodology
  • Data Sources and Limitations
  • Glossary of Terms
  • Customizing the Cluster Definitions
  • Key Research Behind the Project
  • Regional Competitiveness

Glossary of Terms

 
CATEGORY VARIABLE SOURCE
Performance Employment,  Establishments, and Payroll by Cluster U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Prosperity (GDP per Capita, 2005 real dollars) Moody's economy.com
Performance Prosperity Growth (GDP per Capita, Real Rate of Growth) Moody's economy.com
Performance Annual Wage (Average Private Wage) U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Annual Wage Growth (Average Private Wage, Rate of Growth) U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Labor Mobilization (Labor Force Participation Rate) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Change in Labor Mobilization (Change in Labor Force Participation Rate) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Employment Growth Rate (Private Employment, Rate of Growth) U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Job Creation (Private Employment, Absolute Job Gains) U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Unemployment (Unemployment Rate) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Change in Unemployment (Change in Unemployment Rate) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Poverty Rate U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Change in Poverty Rate U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Labor Force Productivity (Real GDP, 2005 dollars, per Labor Force Participant) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Labor Force Productivity Growth (Growth in Real GDP, 2005 dollars, per Labor Force Participant) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Performance Innovation (Utility Patents per 10k Employees) U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Performance Innovation Growth (Change in Utility Patents per 10k Employees) U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Performance Exports (Exports as a Percent of GDP) WISERTrade
Performance Exports Growth (Rate of Growth on Total Exports) WISERTrade
Performance Establishments Growth Rate (Traded Establishment Growth) U.S. Census Bureau
Performance Real Personal Income by States, Economic Areas, and Metropolitan Areas (Price-adjusted Personal Income per Capita) Bureau of Economic Analysis
Performance Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (Jobs Created through FDI) Bureau of Economic Analysis
Performance U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment R&D Expenditure per Capita (Total R&D Expenditures per Capita) National Science Foundation
Business Environment R&D Expenditure per Capita Growth (CAGR in R&D Expenditure per Capita) National Science Foundation
Business Environment Federal Funding for R&D per Capita National Science Foundation
Business Environment Federal Funding for R&D per Capita Growth (CAGR in Federal Government Funding for R&D per Capita) National Science Foundation
Business Environment Venture Capital (Venture Capital per $10,000 GDP) VentureDeal
Business Environment Venture Capital Growth (Growth in Venture Capital per $10,000 GDP) VentureDeal
Business Environment Scientific Degrees Awarded (Total Science & Engineering Doctorates Awarded) National Science Foundation
Business Environment Advanced Scientific Workers (Employed Science, Engineering and Health Doctoral Holders as Percent of Population) National Science Foundation
Business Environment Growth in Advanced Scientific Workers (CAGR in Employed Science, Engineering and Health Doctoral Holders as Percent of Population) National Science Foundation
Business Environment Total Receiving High School Diploma or More (Total Receiving High School Diploma or More as Percent of Population 25+) U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Total with Some College or Associates Degree or More (Total with Some College or Associates Degree or More as Percent of Population 25+) U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Total Completing a Bachelor's Degree or More (Total Completing a Bachelor's Degree or More as Percent of Population 25+) U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Unionization (Percent of Workers Represented by Unions) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Business Environment Taxes as Percent of GDP (State and Local Taxes as Percent of GDP) U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Corporate Taxes as Percent of GDP (State and Local Net Income Tax as Percent of GDP) U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Cluster Strength (Percent of Traded Employment in Strong Clusters) [tooltip:2] U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Employment Growth in Strong Clusters [tooltip:2] U.S. Census Bureau
Business Environment Manufacturing Intensity (Manufacturing Jobs as a Percent of All Jobs) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Business Environment Change in Manufacturing Intensity (Change in Manufacturing Jobs as a Percent of All Jobs) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Ages 0 to 4 (Preschool) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Ages 5 to 17 (School Age) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Ages 18 to 24 (College Age) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Ages 25 to 44 (Young Adult) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Ages 45 to 64 (Older Adult) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population by Age - Age 65 and Older (Older Adult) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Total Population Growth U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Young Adult Population Growth U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Population Density U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Net International Migration (Net International Migration as Percent of Total Population) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Net Domestic Migration (Net Domestic Migration as Percent of Total Population) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Average Prosperity of Neighboring Regions (Real GDP per Capita of Contiguous Neighbors of a Region) Moody's economy.com
Demographics & Geography Average Firm Size (Average Traded Establishment Size) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography HQ of Large Firms (Fortune 1000 Firms) Fortune
Demographics & Geography Military Personnel and Expenditures (Total Military Payroll & Contracts) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Government Employment and Payroll (Total Government Employment in Local Services, Federal Services, Higher Education, and Health and Hospitals) U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics & Geography Agricultural Productivity in the U.S. across States (Agricultural Output over GDP) U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Cluster Mapping Project, http://clustermapping.us

U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns

The U.S. Census County Business Patterns (CBP) data gives the most complete picture of the industrial structure of U.S. regions. This data includes annual employment levels, establishment counts, and payroll totals in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for every state, economic area, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area (MSA), and county in the U.S. annually from 1998 to 2012. The cluster data on the website is refreshed when new underlying industrial data becomes available, which is typically each year in June or July. 

Although data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a more frequent update cycle, we use CBP data for defining clusters because it is more complete. Importantly for our purposes, the CBP provides useful estimates for employment when disclosure standards force the suppression of actual region-industry data. For instance, flags are provided to midrange estimates on employment, which allows us to better estimate employment for rural areas. Unfortunately, the two sources are substantially incompatible for working with jointly. In areas where there is a choice in data sources between CBP and BLS on the website, we have used CBP for consistency with the Clusters portion of the site. 

The following types of data are excluded from the CBP:

  • Migrant farmers
  • Government employees
  • Sole proprietorships 
  • Odd exceptions of individuals who don’t pay Social Security taxes, such as some railroad workers or teachers in some cases (i.e. Chicago Public School teachers)

Although the CBP does not include agricultural employment or other agricultural measures, we think these are an important class of measures to add to the site. We will likely add agricultural output and agricultural payroll measures to the Region Dashboard: Performance & Drivers sections in the future.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

The BEA Economic Areas comprehensively define the relevant regional markets surrounding metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas in 179 regions of the U.S. The project also uses BEA's Benchmark Input-Output data files for the input-output data underlying the cluster definitions.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The project uses BLS's Occupational Employment Statistics for certain data underlying the cluster definitions.

STATS America

STATS America is a service of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business that provides nearly all of the performance, business environment, and demographics & geography data available in the Regions section.

Regional Innovation Acceleration Network

The Regional Innovation Acceleration Network (RIAN) provides the Venture Development Organizations data available in the Organizations section.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. patents by location of inventor will be allocated to industries and clusters using a concordance of technology classifications with these codes to clusters. This patent data is pending and will be updated in the summer of 2014.

Data Limitations

The cluster mapping data provided by the U.S. Cluster Mapping website comes from publicly available sources so as to be accessible by as many users as possible.  However, one of the limitations of using public data is that the analyses on the website are largely constrained by the data that is available.  This leads to limitations due to set industry definitions, set regional definitions, estimated data, and lagged data.

First, economic data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau is grouped into industry codes (North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes) that better reflect the industries of the past than predict the industries of the future.  These codes are updated every five years, but are focused on past economic activity.  By necessity, the clusters are limited to the industry codes that exist and so may be slow to adopt newly emergent industries.  The industry codes also provide differing levels of granularity.  For example, in services, there are relatively few industry codes compared to manufacturing despite their increasing level of differentiation and importance to the U.S. economy.  

Second, economic data is usually provided at the level of administratively defined regions such as states or economic areas.  These arbitrary boundaries may not match the true geographic scope of specific clusters.

Third, there are confidentiality limitations to the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) data, which serves as the main source of information on this website.  To maintain the confidentiality of certain firms, data for a given NAICS code will only be given as a range.  To account for this, the U.S. Cluster Mapping analyses use the midpoint of the range where necessary.  This generally does not impact the results in aggregate or for large NAICS or regions.  However, it can affect the results for smaller NAICS and regions.

Finally, the reported data from the U.S. Census has a lag of about two years.  This makes it impossible to have the most current economic activity incorporated into the clusters.  However, because the patterns and trends of economic geography change slowly over time, this lag in data being available does not significantly reduce the value of the data for regional economic development purposes.

How to Cite the Cluster Mapping Data

Please read the Terms of Use.

Bridges between Changes in NAICS

The NAICS codes have been updated every five years since their first appearance in 1997.  NAICS 1997 covers data from 1998-2002, NAICS 2002 covers data from 2003-2007, and NAICS 2007 covers data from 2008-2013.  The U.S. Census changes between NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007 are relatively minor, with most industries remaining the same or cleanly mapping into a new industry while discontinuing the old.

Because of these changes, it was necessary to create a backwards mapping from NAICS 2007 to NAICS 1997 in order to consistently report information for clusters over time, which is available in the appendix download below.

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The U.S. Cluster Mapping Project is led by Professor Michael E. Porter at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School.

This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.