Maine’s three metropolitan areas all turned in poor economic performances in 2015.

Portland-South Portland-Biddeford posted the strongest growth for the year, with an increase in its gross domestic product of 1.4 percent, which ranked 199 out of the nation’s 382 metro areas, according to figures released Tuesday morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Bangor saw its GDP – a measure of the output of the metro area’s goods and services – rise by 1.0 percent last year, which was 236th fastest, while Lewiston’s economy shrank by 2.8 percent, a performance which left it ranked near the bottom of the metro areas at 370th.

Collectively, the output of metro areas nationally rose by 2.5 percent for the year, the bureau said.

Portland’s economy was the nation’s 88th largest among metro areas, with a GDP of $28.9 billion, the bureau said, up from $27.8 billion in 2014. Bangor’s economy was the country’s 275th largest, with a GDP of $5.9 billion last year, the report said, while Lewiston’s output of $4.1 billion was 340th largest.

Broken down by industry sectors, Portland’s economic output was boosted most by growth in finance, insurance, real estate, rentals and leasing and also education, health care and social assistance. Non-durable goods manufacturing, which is the manufacturing of goods expected to last fewer than three years, and the construction sector contracted most in Portland last year.

In Bangor, the trade and information sectors posted the strongest growth, while the transportation and utilities and education, health care and social assistance sectors contracted the most. In Lewiston, the natural resources and mining and professional and business services sectors grew the most last year, while the finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing and the transportation and utilities sectors contracted the most.


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