The Savannah metro economy is expected to outpace the Georgia state economy and U.S. national economy in 2025, according to forecasting by Georgia Southern University.
The region’s manufacturing will anchor growth this year despite a modest slowdown expected in the state and national economies, said GSU Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Economics Michael Toma. Toma gave the region’s forecast at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Outlook luncheon Wednesday.
“I think the big takeaways are the Savannah metro area will outpace Georgia and in the United States, and the manufacturing growth has been stunning over the last two years,” Toma said in an interview.
Manufacturing grew by 25% over the past two years, bolstered by growth at Gulfstream and the start of Hyundai’s Bryan County Metaplant. That level of growth likely makes the Savannah region unique in the U.S., Toma said.
“I would be hard pressed to name another metro area that has experienced similar growth in manufacturing, unless we’re talking about another electric vehicle plant that’s coming online at the same time. But (Hyundai) is the largest economic development project in the history of the state,” Toma said.
Last year:Regional economy expected to outpace state and nation despite anticipated slowed growth
As manufacturing continues to grow, the make up of that growth will likely shift in 2025. Growth in the past two years has been split evenly between the automotive and aviation industries.
The manufacturing industry’s make up will shift more toward automotive growth with Hyundai and its suppliers starting its first full year of production at the metaplant, Toma said. Hyundai started production at the Metaplant in late 2024.
Manufacturing growth also means good news for many Savannah workers.
Toma estimates that since 2022, 4,600 manufacturing jobs were added to the regional economy. That turns out to $300 million in wages, or about $65,000 per job. Including benefits, compensation is estimated to be around $400 million over the two years, Toma said.
“That’s stunning in terms of the amount of additional income that’s coursing through the lifeblood of our regional economy.”
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Also at Wednesday’s economic outlook luncheon was Benjamin C. Ayers, dean at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Ayers provided the forecast for Georgia’s state economy.
The state economy is expected to grow at a 2.4% rate, which is down slightly from last year’s growth. But that rate of growth is ahead of Georgia’s historic levels.
“Relative to our history, a good year. But not as strong as we saw before,” Ayers said. “So, we are predicting an economic slowdown.”
But just as the Savannah metro will outpace growth statewide and nationally, Georgia’s growth will outplace the country’s, Ayers predicts. Ayers’ forecast predicts the U.S. economy will grow at a 1.6% rate, a slowdown from 2.5% national growth last year.
Odds of a recession are down from last year, despite a predicted slowdown in the economy, Ayers said. Chances of a recession at last year’s luncheon was one in three, but this year those odds are 25%.
“The risk of recessions have come down,” Ayers said.
As a state that consistently touts its record as the number one state to do business, many indicators point to continued economic climb in Georgia.
“The build out of many of the large projects in our economic development pipeline, and faithful demographic trends are the two of the main reasons why we think Georgia’s economy will remain strong in 2025 and accelerate in 2026,” Ayers said.
Evan Lasseter is the city of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.