Ever thought about which city in the Philippines outside Metro Manila is considered the wealthiest? Well look no further than Baguio City. Residents there earn twice the average national income.
In the first-ever Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Baguio City shined not for its cool climate but also for the promising earning opportunities it provides for its residents.
Based the PSA report, Baguio City is recognized as the area outside of the national capital region (NCR) boasting an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person of P420,016. This amount surpassed the average of P178,751 by a huge margin.
GDP serves as a metric to gauge the value of goods and services produced within a region. By dividing this value by the number of full time residents, known as per capita, it can get a glimpse into that area’s wealth or poverty levels.
However, the PPA findings only covered 16 pilot regions outside NCR, including 82 provinces and 17 Urbanized Cities in a study conducted from November, to December 2023.
Following Baguio City in terms of GDP per capita are Cagayan de Oro, which stood at P343,936, Lapu Lapu City at P313,039, and Iloilo City at P306,444.
Other cities hovering below the P300,000 threshold include Bataan with P297,930, the City of Cebu with P293,426, Laguna with P287,280, Mandaue City with P274,376.
Additionally, Davao City follows closely behind at P258.811 and Batanes at P251.955.
However, to better gauge the wealth of a city or province, it is also crucial to consider the inflation rates and the costs of local goods and services in that area.