Recently, the Township Economic Research Center of CCID Research Institute (Group) of Industry and Information Technology Sichuan Co., Ltd. released a research report on the top 500 town-level economic powerhouses, top 100 town-level economic powerhouses in central China, and top 100 town-level economic powerhouses in western China in 2024.

China's top 500 town-level economic powerhouses include 36 designated towns in Shandong. Four towns rank among the top 100, namely Dawang Town in Guangrao County, Dongying City (59th), Boli Town in Huangdao District, Qingdao City (65th), Jinshan Town in Linzi District, Zibo City (89th), and Xiaoguan Town in Wendeng District, Weihai City (95th). In terms of geographical distribution, the shortlisted towns are distributed in 13 prefecture-level cities, namely Zibo (6), Qingdao (4), Weifang (4), Weihai (4), Binzhou (4), Linyi (3), Zaozhuang (2), Yantai (2), Jining (2), Tai'an (2), Dongying (1), Liaocheng (1), and Dezhou (1).

It is reported that the evaluation was carried out with four primary indicators, including economic strength, industrial capacity, consumption vitality, and urban-rural synergy, as well as 17 secondary indicators while comprehensively considering supporting indicators such as the number of listed companies and higher educational institutions in the towns.