Don't always go for ranking, go for fit. Talk to professors and get a feel for people there. See if there's anyone you would really like to work with for 5 years and who would spare some time of their day to make your research better. Look at their past placements. Consider money and location, you can't be motivated if you're unhappy. The rest is noise.
For PhD program or faculty?
For PhD programs, neither is a sufficiently good enough option. Unless you can get into a Top-5 US Econ PhD program, it simply is not worth it to do an Econ PhD anymore. Save yourself potential lost years of your life, and do something else.
Ranking matters when you are on the market. People will care about it and treat you based on it. Besides, being close to DC area alone is a big advantage compared to being in a small Midwest town.
Listen to what students say about faculty but take their advice with a grain of salt. Look at the students that SK has worked with and see if you can do the same. BA is not even in macro finance and I don’t think he had many students.
Maryland’s a bit of an exception here given they run a good bit of the census bureau out of the department. Not really macro though.
For PhD program or faculty?
For PhD programs, neither is a sufficiently good enough option. Unless you can get into a Top-5 US Econ PhD program, it simply is not worth it to do an Econ PhD anymore. Save yourself potential lost years of your life, and do something else.