The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released their final 2017 metro area job numbers. It was a pretty good year for job growth in a lot of major metros. Here’s how they fared, ranked by percentage job growth. Job totals are in thousands.
| Rank | Metro Area | 2016 | 2017 | Total Change | Pct Change |
| 1 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 1401.9 | 1451.6 | 49.7 | 3.55% |
| 2 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 1000.5 | 1032.6 | 32.1 | 3.21% |
| 3 | Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN | 949.9 | 980.0 | 30.1 | 3.17% |
| 4 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 1208.9 | 1247.1 | 38.2 | 3.16% |
| 5 | Jacksonville, FL | 668.6 | 689.7 | 21.1 | 3.16% |
| 6 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 1147.9 | 1181.5 | 33.6 | 2.93% |
| 7 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | 949.5 | 976.8 | 27.3 | 2.88% |
| 8 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 1979.2 | 2034.1 | 54.9 | 2.77% |
| 9 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 3503.0 | 3596.7 | 93.7 | 2.67% |
| 10 | Raleigh, NC | 600.1 | 616.1 | 16.0 | 2.67% |
| 11 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 1950.3 | 2000.6 | 50.3 | 2.58% |
| 12 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 1071.4 | 1098.2 | 26.8 | 2.50% |
| 13 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 1145.1 | 1172.9 | 27.8 | 2.43% |
| 14 | Salt Lake City, UT | 699.7 | 716.3 | 16.6 | 2.37% |
| 15 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 1016.4 | 1039.3 | 22.9 | 2.25% |
| 16 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 2663.9 | 2723.7 | 59.8 | 2.24% |
| 17 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 2344.3 | 2396.4 | 52.1 | 2.22% |
| 18 | Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA | 949.0 | 968.5 | 19.5 | 2.05% |
| 19 | Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI | 542.4 | 553.4 | 11.0 | 2.03% |
| 20 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 1295.0 | 1321.2 | 26.2 | 2.02% |
| 21 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 1424.6 | 1453.2 | 28.6 | 2.01% |
| 22 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 1434.1 | 1461.7 | 27.6 | 1.92% |
| 23 | Columbus, OH | 1064.3 | 1083.9 | 19.6 | 1.84% |
| 24 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 2586.1 | 2629.4 | 43.3 | 1.67% |
| 25 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 1957.2 | 1988.8 | 31.6 | 1.61% |
| 26 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 3223.2 | 3274.1 | 50.9 | 1.58% |
| 27 | Kansas City, MO-KS | 1066.1 | 1082.6 | 16.5 | 1.55% |
| 28 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 9525.1 | 9672.2 | 147.1 | 1.54% |
| 29 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 1974.2 | 2004.3 | 30.1 | 1.52% |
| 30 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 2868.4 | 2910.1 | 41.7 | 1.45% |
| 31 | Tucson, AZ | 371.8 | 377.2 | 5.4 | 1.45% |
| 32 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN | 1043.1 | 1057.8 | 14.7 | 1.41% |
| 33 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 5969.8 | 6052.2 | 82.4 | 1.38% |
| 34 | Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | 658.3 | 666.6 | 8.3 | 1.26% |
| 35 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | 1080.0 | 1093.6 | 13.6 | 1.26% |
| 36 | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH – Metro | 2704.4 | 2736.8 | 32.4 | 1.20% |
| 37 | Richmond, VA | 664.0 | 671.3 | 7.3 | 1.10% |
| 38 | Pittsburgh, PA | 1162.8 | 1175.4 | 12.6 | 1.08% |
| 39 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 1363.7 | 1377.4 | 13.7 | 1.00% |
| 40 | Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA – Metro | 583.2 | 588.9 | 5.7 | 0.98% |
| 41 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 2992.3 | 3021.3 | 29.0 | 0.97% |
| 42 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | 772.6 | 779.9 | 7.3 | 0.94% |
| 43 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 1385.2 | 1397.5 | 12.3 | 0.89% |
| 44 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 4658.6 | 4697.2 | 38.6 | 0.83% |
| 45 | Oklahoma City, OK | 629.8 | 634.6 | 4.8 | 0.76% |
| 46 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY | 560.0 | 563.9 | 3.9 | 0.70% |
| 47 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 526.2 | 529.5 | 3.3 | 0.63% |
| 48 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | 638.2 | 642.2 | 4.0 | 0.63% |
| 49 | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT – Metro | 569.8 | 572.1 | 2.3 | 0.40% |
| 50 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | 863.8 | 866.6 | 2.8 | 0.32% |
| 51 | Rochester, NY | 532.9 | 534.1 | 1.2 | 0.23% |
| 52 | Cleveland-Elyria, OH | 1055.3 | 1057.6 | 2.3 | 0.22% |
| 53 | New Orleans-Metairie, LA | 576.2 | 575.0 | -1.2 | -0.21% |
This piece originally appeared on Urbanophile.
Aaron M. Renn is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and an economic development columnist for Governing magazine. He focuses on ways to help America’s cities thrive in an ever more complex, competitive, globalized, and diverse twenty-first century. During Renn’s 15-year career in management and technology consulting, he was a partner at Accenture and held several technology strategy roles and directed multimillion-dollar global technology implementations. He has contributed to The Guardian, Forbes.com, and numerous other publications. Renn holds a B.S. from Indiana University, where he coauthored an early social-networking platform in 1991.
Photo: Cover image photo credit: David McSpadden, CC BY 2.0
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