Cities are essential to the nation’s prosperity—central to the quality of life, the livelihoods, and the long-term prospects of most Americans. Pew’s American cities project conducts original research and analyses to help policymakers understand the challenges facing urban centers and promising policy options that can improve fiscal outcomes for localities.
Why Cities Matter
Most Americans reside or work in cities, and the policies, programs, and services of those places touch people’s lives. Whether cities succeed or fail will affect the nation’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity.
Cities and the Recovery
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, cities are contending with fiscal challenges, including lower property tax revenue and cuts in state and federal aid, as well as continuing high levels of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, they face profound demographic changes and economic shifts that predate the downturn, and federal and state lawmakers continue to debate major policy changes that will have significant local effects.
How We Conduct Our Work
Policymakers need more information about the key challenges facing cities and policy options for addressing them. Pew’s American cities project conducts original research to inform local, state, and federal leaders as they consider policy choices that could significantly affect localities.
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- American Cities Project
Governing Magazine: Report - Cities' Fiscal Problems Run Long and Deep
The economies of America's major metro areas grew 2.5 percent in 2012, according to a report prepared by IHS Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That's good news, and it's a sign that cities are finally turning the corner economically. The bad news is that it has been an usually long and painful return for America's urban areas.
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- American Cities Project
MinnPost: U.S. Cities Still Struggling, but it Doesn’t Seem so Dire in Minneapolis
The economy is improving but American cities are still staggering in the aftermath of the Great Recession. That's the gist of "America's Big Cities in Volatile Times," a recently released report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, whose analysts assessed the fiscal health of the 30 cities that dominate the nation's most heavily populated metropolitan areas. As the dominant city of the 15th most-populous metro, Minneapolis is a charter member of the group. And Pew says that it is one of 21 cities whose revenues hadn't recovered to pre-recession highs by 2011.
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- American Cities Project
The Atlantic Cities: America's Biggest City Governments Are Still Struggling to Recover From the Recession
An important new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts' American Cities Project paints a grim picture of the financial health of the center cities of America's 30 largest metro regions, municipalities that house one in 10 Americans and that account for nearly half of the country’s economic output. more
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- American Cities Project
Washington Post: Cities Felt Recession’s Challenges Well After Recovery Began
A new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts shows 17 of the nation’s 30 largest cities now carry millions of dollars in debt than they did before the recession. By 2011, 16 cities had not returned to 2007 revenue levels. more
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- Media Coverage
- American Cities Project
International Business Times: America's Economic Recovery Outpaced Most of the Country's Biggest Cities
While the U.S. economy was slowly rebounding in 2011 after a dip in 2010, many of America’s major cities were still in decline and had yet to recover from the great recession, according to a report released on Tuesday by The Pew Charitable Trusts. more
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