Best Cities For Job Growth 2011 - If you are looking to relocate, possibly raise a family you want a secure city and looking at job growth may be a good factor to consider. In 2011 employment and industry has been going through a rough patch and old job markets crash and new ones cautiously rise. Times are changing and stability is hard to predict but site New Geography has released their annual index to try and help.
Best Cities For Job Growth 2011
El Paso, Texas - 3rd of the Best Cities For Job Growth 2011. Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/lothar_f
Finding a job in this market is hard enough as it is and knowing if it will be there next year or the year after that feels like a pointless task. Of course some jobs feel secure but people who are facing unexpected mass lay offs in their so called secure sectors are learning the hard way that this isn’t the case. Of course some industries are starting to do well again and corporations are posting ridiculous profits and CEO bonuses again in some areas. Emerging job markets and the stability of new techologies obviously are affecting things a great deal but there is hope on the horizon.
The New Geography Best Cities For Growth list is created from a variety of factors. The 2011 rankings is very similar to the 2010 rankings in which they have looked at how robust growth is from a region in recent times and over a long term period. The rankings include data from the MSAs, Metropolitan Statistical Areas provided by the montly employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic.
Basically this list tries it’s damn hardest to predict stable growth and this year it features 398 areas in the categories of small, medium and large, all of which can be viewed in separate tables or in one unified ranking.
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So who won? Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX won the best city for job growth and has moved up 3 places since last year. It’s no surprise as Texas as a whole seems to be fairly much better than most states through this whole crisis and has been attracting a lot of new business including green technologies. In fact our web server is powered by green energy and located in Texas, although I don’t think in Killeen Temple.
Let’s take a look at the first 50 on the complete list sourced from the New Geography website.
|
2011 Overall Ranking
|
Area
|
2011 Weighted INDEX
|
2010 Nonfarm Empl (1000s)
|
Overall Rank 2010
|
Overal Movement
|
|
1
|
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX |
93.8
|
129.0
|
4
|
3
|
|
2
|
Bismarck, ND |
92.8
|
63.0
|
2
|
0
|
|
3
|
El Paso, TX |
92.5
|
281.2
|
25
|
22
|
|
4
|
College Station-Bryan, TX |
92.3
|
98.5
|
3
|
-1
|
|
5
|
Midland, TX |
90.8
|
69.2
|
62
|
57
|
|
6
|
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX |
89.1
|
769.3
|
9
|
3
|
|
7
|
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA |
88.9
|
522.6
|
294
|
287
|
|
8
|
Dubuque, IA |
88.6
|
56.6
|
93
|
85
|
|
9
|
Manhattan, KS |
88.3
|
57.0
|
||
|
10
|
Pascagoula, MS |
85.4
|
58.7
|
30
|
20
|
|
11
|
Odessa, TX |
84.1
|
61.8
|
87
|
76
|
|
12
|
Corpus Christi, TX |
82.5
|
179.1
|
38
|
26
|
|
13
|
Logan, UT-ID |
82.2
|
54.4
|
110
|
97
|
|
14
|
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX |
82.1
|
2552.3
|
21
|
7
|
|
15
|
Fairbanks, AK |
81.0
|
37.7
|
42
|
27
|
|
16
|
Elizabethtown, KY |
81.0
|
47.6
|
103
|
87
|
|
17
|
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX |
80.7
|
841.3
|
12
|
-5
|
|
18
|
Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division |
80.6
|
2043.4
|
44
|
26
|
|
19
|
Jacksonville, NC |
80.5
|
47.2
|
1
|
-18
|
|
20
|
Lawton, OK |
80.5
|
44.0
|
7
|
-13
|
|
21
|
Lebanon, PA |
80.5
|
50.1
|
106
|
85
|
|
22
|
Anchorage, AK |
79.8
|
170.7
|
18
|
-4
|
|
23
|
Longview, TX |
79.4
|
97.0
|
140
|
117
|
|
24
|
Joplin, MO |
79.1
|
79.8
|
105
|
81
|
|
25
|
Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, WA |
79.0
|
99.2
|
16
|
-9
|
|
26
|
Gulfport-Biloxi, MS |
78.9
|
105.3
|
192
|
166
|
|
27
|
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX |
78.7
|
223.4
|
28
|
1
|
|
28
|
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX |
77.9
|
127.2
|
31
|
3
|
|
29
|
Columbia, MO |
77.2
|
93.4
|
32
|
3
|
|
30
|
Auburn-Opelika, AL |
77.0
|
53.3
|
79
|
49
|
|
31
|
Clarksville, TN-KY |
76.6
|
83.4
|
124
|
93
|
|
32
|
San Angelo, TX |
76.4
|
44.9
|
85
|
53
|
|
33
|
Morgantown, WV |
76.4
|
65.4
|
17
|
-16
|
|
34
|
Wheeling, WV-OH |
76.2
|
67.9
|
81
|
47
|
|
35
|
Ithaca, NY |
76.1
|
65.6
|
24
|
-11
|
|
36
|
Jonesboro, AR |
75.9
|
49.2
|
43
|
7
|
|
37
|
Springfield, IL |
74.6
|
111.7
|
59
|
22
|
|
38
|
Fargo, ND-MN |
74.6
|
122.4
|
8
|
-30
|
|
39
|
Grand Forks, ND-MN |
74.4
|
54.0
|
37
|
-2
|
|
40
|
Corvallis, OR |
74.2
|
38.1
|
274
|
234
|
|
41
|
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division |
74.1
|
2412.6
|
47
|
6
|
|
42
|
Cumberland, MD-WV |
73.8
|
39.9
|
128
|
86
|
|
43
|
Northern Virginia, VA |
73.8
|
1306.5
|
35
|
-8
|
|
44
|
Oshkosh-Neenah, WI |
73.5
|
92.7
|
145
|
101
|
|
45
|
Portsmouth, NH-ME NECTA |
73.5
|
53.7
|
60
|
15
|
|
46
|
Warner Robins, GA |
73.3
|
59.7
|
26
|
-20
|
|
47
|
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA |
73.2
|
38.6
|
36
|
-11
|
|
48
|
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN |
73.1
|
742.9
|
217
|
169
|
|
49
|
Waco, TX |
73.0
|
105.8
|
41
|
-8
|
|
50
|
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO |
72.9
|
133.6
|
68
|
18
|
Do you live or have any plans on living in any of these areas? Would you consider on the strength of this list moving to a place where growth looks good?
How does stability and job growth feel in your current city?
“Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood” – that’s a mouthful! Does that really count as a city? I suppose we’ll have to get used to that, since Texas seems to have run away with most of the job growth, mostly through sesquipedalian conglomeration named “cities”.
I think the big surprise is Bismark. For a city so far away from, well, just about everything, to rank #2 in job growth would be quite an accomplishment. It would also be amazing news for people looking to get away from the polluted urban industrial complex.
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