Report: Seattle likely to recover from pandemic faster than most U.S. cities

Seattle is likely to have one of the quickest and strongest recoveries in the nation as the coronavirus scare winds down, according to a report by Moody’s Analytics.

The report, cited by Yahoo Finance, analyzed the top 100 U.S. metro areas' capabilities for a strong recovery using two primary factors: population density and educational attainment.

“The most dynamic recoveries may well bypass traditional powerhouses and take place instead in areas that (weren’t) poised to lead the way in 2020 before everything changed,” wrote Adam Kamins, senior regional economist at Moody’s Analytics, according to Yahoo Finance.

The analysis found that the cities best poised to recover quickly included San Jose, Calif.; Durham, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Seattle; and Minneapolis.

Kamins believed that the twin factors of low population density and educational attainment were going to boost these metro areas.

“A key difference between this recovery and the last recovery is the population density,” he was quoted as saying by Yahoo Finance. “It's going to have a different effect this time than it did last time.”

During the Great Recession, “the first places out ... were big densely populated global cities,” he explained, according to Yahoo Finance. But this time, depending on the duration and the eventual outcome of the COVID-19 outbreak, Kamins believed that “big densely populated cities are going to be viewed as inherently risky.”

So “some of the places that we're really looking at now would be places that have high degrees of educational attainment but are lower density (that) have grown very, very well over the last five or six years in particular, are pretty well positioned coming out of this whenever we do,” he was quoted as saying.

Cities facing headwinds on the road to recovery include New York City, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas and San Francisco, according to the analysis.

"New York City’s greatest asset is a large, skilled workforce that is drawn to the fast-paced and highly interactive nature of life in the Big Apple,” he explained. “But activities such as riding the subway, dining in crowded restaurants, and attending Broadway shows may be viewed as inherently risky for some time," Kamins said.