vice president and senior regional officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Cincinnati branch.
Economic conditions remain strong in the Lexington metro area, says Gary Wagner, head of the Cincinnati Branch of the Cleveland Fed.
“The unemployment rate for the Lexington metro area is the lowest it has been since 2001, and the region has nearly 9 percent more jobs today than it did in 2007,” said Wagner, a vice president and senior regional officer at the Cincinnati Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Writing in the Bank’s Metro Mix, Wagner also noted that inflation-adjusted per capita income levels in the region were growing, while consumer debt levels and credit card delinquency rates were both well below the national average.
In addition, Wagner said that year-over-year home price growth in the Lexington metro area has accelerated in the past six months and is now much closer to the national average than at any time in the post-recession period. Home prices in the Lexington metro area and the state of Kentucky are 11.5 percent and 10 percent above their pre-recession peaks, respectively.
Wagner also highlighted the region’s strength as an education center, writing that “Lexington boasts a higher percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees and a lower percentage of adults without high school diplomas than the national average.”
For more of Wagner’s insights on economic conditions in the Lexington area, see the latest Lexington Metro Mix.
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