The Twin Cities' GDP (gross domestic product) improved considerably between 2007 and 2010 to rank 13th nationwide, despite a nerve-wracking recession that shed 200,000 Minnesota workers, according to data released Tuesday by The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Bloomington metro region generated the following gross domestic product dollars by year:

2007 $189.6 billion
2008 $193.8 billion
2009 $191.1 billion
2010 $199.6 billion.

To compare, the New York City, Long Island and Northern New Jersey metro region ranked first in the nation with the following GDP dollars by year:
2007 $1.21 trillion
2008 $1.24 trillion
2009 $1.21 trillion
2010 $1.28 trillion

2010 - Metro rankings by GDP dollars:
13th Minneapolis-St. Paul
12 Seattle-Tacoma
11 Miami
10 Atlanta
9 Boston-Cambridge
8 San Francisco
7 Philadelphia
6 Dallas –Fort worth
5 Houston
4 Washington, D.C.
3 Chicago
2 Los Angeles
1 NYC--Long Island, N.J.