The Philadelphia Fed’s release of their coincident index study (through September 2008 data) makes for an interesting look at what states are hot and which are not.  Fly over country looks pretty strong in this month’s map.  The index is basically unreadable at this resolution - the more blue the state, the higher the coindent index value - and the more vibrant the economic conditions in the state per the CI calculations. 

For those not comfortable with the definition of a coincident index – here’s the Fed’s word on the matter: 

A coincident index is a single summary statistic that tracks the current state of the economy. The index is computed from a number of data series that move systematically with overall economic conditions. A rise in the index indicates an expansion of economic activity and a decline in the index indicates a contraction in economic activity. Each of the regional indexes is computed using data on employment, real earnings, the unemployment rate and average weekly hours worked in manufacturing. Each index is then retrended so its long-term growth rate matched the corresponding growth rate of real earnings.

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