Exactly how does the Bay Area stack up against the nation’s top knowledge-based economies? How competitive is the Bay Area economy on a global scale? How well have we recovered from the Great Recession? This month, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute published the 10th economic profile of the Bay Area since 1997, which answers these questions and many more.

As one of the 17 cities included in the Bay Area hub, Fremont displays many of the factors that have contributed to the region’s characteristic innovation and success. Our talented workforce, top-notch education system, startup economy and inclination, as well as the dense concentration of venture capital funds that have been distributed to startups in the region add to the economic power of the Bay Area detailed by the report.

Here are just a few of the noteworthy statistics that the profile shared:

  • 46 percent of Bay Area adults over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree, significantly higher than the U.S. average of 31 percent.
  • The Bay Area produces some of the most entrepreneurial undergraduates in the world. In fact, 2,984 companies have been started by Stanford and UC Berkeley graduates since 2009.
  • With a per capita GDP of nearly $80K, the Bay Area ranks higher than most of its peer regions.
  • The Bay Area produced 17 percent of all patents issued in the U.S. during 2015.
  • There’s a strong presence of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the Bay Area, including Tesla, Synnex, and Lam Research — all based in Fremont.
  • In 2017, 45 percent of U.S. venture capital investment went to Bay Area companies. This explosion of activity has been supported by growing investment in key sectors such as AI, Big Data, FinTech, and Life Sciences.

Additionally, the report featured Lam Research as an example of a Fortune 500 company that has benefited from the proximity of anchor research institutions. Because Lam Research has offices in both Livermore and Fremont, it can draw from its connections to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory, as well its ties to Silicon Valley. Lam Research, a top producer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, employs over 10,000 people, and its location in the highly innovative Bay Area has been instrumental in its growth over the years.

To learn more about the July 2018 Bay Area Economic Profile and read the full report, visit http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/continuing-growth-and-unparalleled-innovation/.