Prospects are better than most of the Midwest. The Indiana economy is heavily dependent on manufacturing, and its unemployment rate has risen markedly in the past few months to 8.2% (vs. a national average of 7.2%). However, the Indianapolis economy is more diverse, with an active life sciences sector, so the unemployment rate in the MSA is 6.7%. The governor (recently re-elected by a large margin) is the best governor in the state's history, IMO, and is both a visionary and a skilled administrator. The state actually ran a budget surplus last year, and is on track to do so again this year.
Indianapolis has had some good mayors, and unlike many midwestern cities, the downtown is vibrant for a city its size and inner city areas do not show the sort of decay that I see in many other cities (I spend a lot of time in Cincinnati, an MSA of roughly the same size, for work, and the difference is remarkable). |
