Which Rust Belt cities boast thriving industrial and commercial real estate markets today? Wisconsin leads the way, with two of its cities — Madison and Kenosha — cited in a recent study of the fortunes of cities in the famed Rust Belt.
These two Wisconsin cities aren’t alone in the study. Chicago is on the list, as are Fort Wayne, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Columbus, Ohio.
This is according to CommercialCafe, which has been tracking the recovery stories of cities across the country’s Rust Belt. CommercialCafe’s latest study, released in August, looks at improvements across 12 metrics in this region’s big and mid-size cities from 2017 through 2022.
CommercialCafe reported that Madison displayed top performances across half of the 12 metrics included its Rust Belt study. The city ranked first for its population increase after growing by 7% from 2017 through 2022, adding roughly 18,000 new residents.
Madison’s industrial, office and retail inventory expanded by 34 million square feet from 2017 through 2022, an increase of 13%.
CommercialCafe said that among Rust Belt cities with more than 200,000 residents, Chicago had the second-highest annual household income, $70,000 as of 2022. Madison was the only Rust Belt city in this category that did better, though, with an annual income of $74,000 a household as of 2022.
Kenosha, Wisconsin, notched the largest expansion of commercial real estate inventory among Rust Belt cities with less than 200,000 residents. This Wisconsin city added roughly 10 million square feet of industrial, retail and office space from 2017 through 2022, an increase of 67%.
Following an 8% jump from 2017 through 2022, Chicago added 25 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space to its inventory. This was the second-highest percentage increase across large Rust Belt cities in CommercialCafe’s rankings.
Chicago also notched the sixth-highest jump — 4% — in the number of housing units built between 2017 and 2022, with 49,500 new units being delivered in the market.
Columbus, Ohio, did well, too. Ohio’s capital placed second for the percentage of new industrial, office and retail space added to its stock since 2017. It finished third overall for new housing units built and median home value growth.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, saw the third-highest population growth in CommercialCafe’s study, adding about 12,600 new residents from 2017 through 2022.
Among Rust Belt cities with fewer than 120,000 residents, Grand Rapids, Michigan — which secured the top spot in CommercialCafe’s mid-size city rankings — added the highest number of housing units to its stock and boasted the highest median annual household income. It also had the largest commercial real estate inventory, with 60 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space.
