A study released this week by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce highlights economic strengths and weaknesses in the Lansing area, compared to other similar regions—such as Ann Arbor, Nashville and Minneapolis.
The State of the Region Benchmarking Report found the region’s GDP grew by 10% between 2019 and 2023. It also reported gains in high-tech job creation and business startups.
Venture capital also saw notable gains.
“Ten years ago, we had no venture capital in our region,” said Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Daman. “In 2023, we had $16 million in deal flow, and it was a 250% increase from where we were in 2019.”
Other strengths included a high number of STEM degrees awarded by local institutions and continued growth in the startup ecosystem.
But Daman says the report also highlighted challenges.
“We felt we needed to be real honest with ourselves,” Daman said. “We have an aging population in our state. Our population had close to a 2% decline in the most recent year with available data.”
The report also identified limited development of single-family housing and stagnant household income.
The report was a joint effort by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Lansing Economic Area Partnership.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.