How has Wichita fared since the start of the pandemic compared to other metropolitan areas?
(These examples are taken from my interactive visualization which holds data on all metropolitan areas in the nation. See Metro area employment and unemployment. It is updated through March 2021.)
The first chart shows Wichita and other Kansas metropolitan areas, as well as the total for all metropolitan areas. It shows changes in the number of jobs and the number of people in the labor force since the first month shown. It also shows the unemployment rate.
Click charts for larger versions.
As we can see, Wichita, in terms of employment, has done better than some, but also not as well as some.
A second chart shows Wichita along with some nearby metropolitan areas. Again, some have performed better than Wichita, and some not as well.
For comparison, here is the same chart of Wichita and the same metropolitan areas for the past 20 years. Wichita’s slow growth over these two decades is evident. Interestingly, Wichita has fared better since the start of the pandemic than some, notably Des Moines and Omaha as well as all U.S. metro areas.
As always, you may use the interactive visualization to create your own charts and tables. The link is above.