AnalysisMay 2026 · Generated by Economic Impact Group, LLC from the data shown on this page
Every claim in this section is derived from a specific indicator displayed elsewhere on this page; numbers in parentheses point to the source section. Prose is written by Economic Impact Group analysts and reconciled to the live data refresh shown in the as-of stamp. Figures update on each refresh; the wording is reviewed periodically and may lag the very latest release.
Labor Market
Savannah's labor market is tight but no longer accelerating. The unemployment rate is 2.9% (Mar 2026) — among the lowest of Georgia's 14 metros, just behind Gainesville (2.8%) — yet total nonfarm employment is essentially flat year-over-year (+0.1%, Current Employment Trends), a marked deceleration from the rapid post-pandemic gains. Breadth has softened with it: the diffusion index reads 47 (Diffusion Index), meaning slightly more 3-digit industries are shrinking than growing. The picture is sectoral — manufacturing (+4.0% YoY) and transportation & utilities (+2.2%) are still adding jobs, while professional & business services (−4.6%) and financial activities (−2.4%) are contracting (Industry Employment, QCEW 2025 Q2).
Sector Mix
The metro's economic base is unusually tilted toward moving and making goods. Manufacturing is 16.7% of employment versus 8.6% nationally, and transportation & utilities 11.8% versus 4.9% (Comparative Employment, QCEW 2025 Q2) — location quotients of 1.9 and 2.4, the metro's two defining industries (Economic Drivers). The largest employers by headcount, though, are leisure & hospitality (19.0%) and education & health (18.8%), reflecting Savannah's tourism and healthcare anchors. The thin spots are white-collar: professional & business services is 9.4% of jobs (vs. 15.3% US) and financial activities 4.4% (vs. 6.0%), and professional-services pay is strikingly low — an average $42,600 a year against $101,500 nationally, while manufacturing averages $93,800. (A durable/nondurable manufacturing breakdown is not shown: QCEW suppresses the metro's dominant transportation-equipment subsector for confidentiality.)
Trade Exposure
Goods exports totaled $8.4B in 2024 (Exports), about 24% of gross metro product — a high trade intensity that tracks the metro's port-and-factory base. Transportation equipment ($2.5B), paper ($1.3B) and chemicals ($1.1B) lead the basket, and Asia ($3.5B) is the largest destination market. That concentration cuts both ways: it has powered the manufacturing expansion but leaves the metro more exposed to tariffs and global-demand swings than the typical US metro.
Housing
House-price growth has cooled to +0.6% YoY (House Price Index) from a double-digit pandemic pace. The EIG valuation model places Savannah right on its income-implied fair value (0% deviation in 2024): prices have tracked local income fundamentals rather than running ahead of them, so there is little sign of a speculative premium. Homebuilding stayed active, with roughly 3,900 single-family and 1,400 multifamily permits authorized in 2025 (headline table). Affordability sits just below breakeven: the EIG affordability index (Housing Affordability chart) has hovered in the low-90s — a reading under 100 means the median household falls slightly short of qualifying for the median home — and has held roughly stable as income kept pace with the combined price-and-rate burden.
Demographics & Migration
Population reached about 418,000 (2024) and grew 1.5% into 2025 (Geographic Profile) — roughly 2–3× the US pace — with net migration of +3,200 the main driver. The metro skews young: median age 36.9 versus roughly 39 nationally, with Gen Z and Millennials a combined ~42% of residents (Population by Age). Educational attainment is near the US average, with 35.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, though the distribution leans toward "some college" over four-year completion.
Inequality & Structural Position
Gini coefficient of 0.46 sits modestly below the US average (~0.48), pointing to broadly middling income inequality (Inequality table). Within the metro, roughly a fifth of neighborhoods report a median household income under $50k — evidence of real geographic separation of income across the MSA. The poverty rate of about 12% runs near the US average. The industrial diversity score (0.86, Industrial Structure) is above the Georgia average, so the metro is structurally less concentrated than its goods-movement tilt alone would suggest.
Synthesis
Savannah pairs real strengths — a 2.9% unemployment rate, strong in-migration, an expanding manufacturing and logistics base, on-trend home valuations, and an AA-equivalent EIG credit score with a Positive outlook — with a clear late-cycle signal: headline job growth has flattened (+0.1% YoY) and breadth has slipped below the expansion line (diffusion 47), as white-collar services shed jobs even while goods industries add them. The structural watch-list is unchanged: (1) tariff and global-demand exposure from the metro's high export share; (2) a thin, low-paid professional-services sector that limits earnings convergence with the nation; and (3) housing-cost pressure even with responsive supply.