Fastest Growing Large Metro Economies of 2017 are Nashville, Riverside, and Jacksonville; Slowest are New Orleans, Rochester, and Buffalo

10 Jul 2018 Fastest Growing Large Metro Economies of 2017 are Nashville, Riverside, and Jacksonville; Slowest are New Orleans, Rochester, and Buffalo

Recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics illuminates which large metros have the fastest growing economies. Growth is measured by the percentage change in employment between the annual average of 2016 and 2017. Headlight Data ranks employment growth for the 53 largest metros (1,000,000+ people) in the U.S.

In 2017, U.S. employment grew 1.4%. Among large metros, the highest growth is found in Nashville (3.5%), Riverside (3.4%), and Jacksonville (3.3%). Orlando, Austin, and Las Vegas follow.

The lowest employment growth is found in New Orleans (-0.7%), Rochester (0.1%), and Buffalo (0.2%). Cleveland, Hartford, and Milwaukee follow.

The U.S. growth rate decreased 0.3 percentage points in 2017 versus 2016. Just 8 out of 53 large metros experienced an improvement. The large metros showing the most improvement (with the greatest increase in the annual growth rate) are Oklahoma City (+1.4 pts.), Houston (+1.1 pts.) and Pittsburgh (+0.9 pts.). Virginia Beach, Birmingham, and Tucson also experienced an improvement.

More than 3 out of 4 metros have slowed since 2016. The large metros with the largest declines in growth rate are Grand Rapids (2.7 pts. decrease), Tampa (-1.5 pts.) and Louisville (-1.4 pts.). Other metros with a large declining growth rate include Memphis, Salt Lake City, and Miami.

Research, analysis and content developed by Headlight Data. Original data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Headlight Data is an award-winning online data aggregator, designed for economic and workforce development organizations, that provides online, decision-support tools on the economy, demographics, education, workforce and public policy.

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