Of the 3,132 counties in the United States, the U.S. Commerce Dept.'s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) identifies 827 as "metropolitan" and groups them together into 315 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Through commuting flows and newspaper circulations, the BEA also links the remaining 2,305 counties to specific MSAs. The exurban area data in this report reflects manufacturing activity in these non-MSA counties. When IndustryWeek and Cleveland State University ranked the exurban areas by the same five-component index that was applied to the metropolitan areas, the 10 exurban areas listed in the table below came out on top. For the three-year period from 1993-1996, exurban manufacturing employment grew 5.6%, double the metropolitan job growth rate.
| Rank | Exurban Community | MSA Gross Exurban Product per manufacturing employee | Exurban Area percent share of U.S. manufacturing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | 3-year dollar change in Manufacturing Gross Exurban Product | Mfg. percent share of total Exurban area employment | 3-year percent growth of manufacturing employment | Total Exurban Area Employment |
| 1 | Atlanta, GA-AL-NC-exurban | $51,461.15 | 0.63 | $818,082,225.49 | 29.1 | 3.3 | 556,312 |
| 2 | Des Moines, IA-IL-MO-exurban | $65,019.63 | 0.47 | $661,621,205.20 | 16.0 | 10.3 | 598,431 |
| 3 | Columbus, OH-exurban | $65,879.30 | 0.38 | $632,613,391.46 | 20.5 | 8.6 | 370,144 |
| 4 | Indianapolis, IN-exurban | $66,221.60 | 0.32 | $527,432,804.21 | 26.7 | 10.9 | 236,852 |
| 5 | Toledo, OH-exurban | $63,166.81 | 0.29 | $436,441,090.71 | 28.1 | 8.5 | 215,044 |
| 6 | Baton Rouge, LA-MS-exurban | $140,120.71 | 0.10 | $283,825,874.22 | 17.9 | -3.8 | 51,265 |
| 7 | Elkhart-Goshen, IN-MI-exurban | $59,058.50 | 0.17 | $377,581,758.88 | 34.9 | 16.4 | 106,580 |
| 8 | Salem, OR-exurban | $75,901.82 | 0.13 | $467,480,577.41 | 18.1 | 20.0 | 127,126 |
| 9 | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI-exurban | $45,239.63 | 0.28 | $593,457,062.76 | 16.3 | 13.3 | 509,987 |
| 10 | Nashville, TN-KY-exurban | $65,160.20 | 0.39 | $294,776,254.72 | 27.2 | -4.8 | 289,423 |
| Exurban Median | $51,461.15 | $40,827,904.12 | 14.7% | 5.6% | 75,283 | ||
| Exurban Total | 18% | 27,086,664 | |||||
| MSA Median | $64,973.62 | $101,979,844.36 | 12.0% | 2.8% | 165,950 | ||
| MSA Total | 82% | 125,326,135 | |||||
