USA - Economic regions and belts
Economy and land use
978-3-14-100890-6 | Page 184 | Ill. 2
Overview
Four zones or belts of intensive economic activity can be identified in the USA:
Economic belts within the USA
- The Manufacturing Belt around Chicago and Detroit is the largest and oldest industrial region in the country. Since the 1970s, it has been affected by a strong structural change due to deindustrialisation.
- The East Coast metropolises from Boston to New York and Washington, D.C. are leading high-tech and financial locations. In addition to a diverse industry, they are home to important services.
- In the Portland/Seattle area, the high-tech and aircraft industries are strongly represented. Wood processing and paper industries are also located there, among others.
- Economic centres in the west are San Francisco with the adjacent Silicon Valley to the south (internet, software, and computer industry) and the Los Angeles/San Diego area (high-tech, heavy and light industry, services, film/media). Together with centres of mining, industrial, high-tech, and service around Phoenix, Dallas, Houston/New Orleans, Atlanta, and Florida, they form the Sunbelt, the growing region of the US economy.
