Their report on the State of the Cities is excellent, but data hounds will find the companion website a tremendous resource for quickly getting comparative data on metro economies. Every state has its own experts and specialized data collections. Most published economic statistics don't allow researchers to easily analyze growth trends by industry size class. One comprehensive source of such data for states and metropolitan areas is the SBA Economic Statistics and Research page. Here you'll find Excel spreadsheets with detailed data on employment and sales by firm size class and major industry category through 1997.
Housing prices are also the major source of inter-regional variations in the cost of living.
A new, extremely comprehensive regional housing price index has been compiled by an obscure federal agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. You can chart the trends in metropolitan segregation from a variety of sources. The Brookings Institution Analysis of racial segregation in 291 metro areas, using Census 2000 data. Data available for central cities, suburbs, and full metro areas. The Mumford Center has also produced rankings of 331 metro areas in terms of racial and ethnic integration and segregation.