Fastest Growing Mid-Sized Metro Economies of 2018 are Provo, Boise City, and Palm Bay; Slowest are Lexington, Jackson, and Youngstown

16 Oct 2019 Fastest Growing Mid-Sized Metro Economies of 2018 are Provo, Boise City, and Palm Bay; Slowest are Lexington, Jackson, and Youngstown

Recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics illuminates which mid-sized metros have the fastest growing economies. Growth is measured by the percentage change in employment between the annual average of 2017 and 2018. Headlight Data ranks employment growth for the 54 mid-sized metros (500,000<1M people) in the U.S.

In 2018, U.S. employment grew 1.6%. Among mid-sized metros, the highest growth is found in Provo (5.6%), Boise City (4.8%), and Palm Bay (4.1%). Charleston, Ogden, and Greenville follow.

The lowest employment growth is found in Lexington (-0.6%), Jackson (-0.4%), and Youngstown (-0.06%). Scranton, Akron, and Bridgeport follow.

The U.S. growth rate increased 0.2 percentage points in 2018 versus 2017. 37 out of 54 mid-sized metros experienced an improvement. The mid-sized metros showing the most improvement (with the greatest increase in the annual growth rate) are Wichita (+2 pts.), Bakersfield (+1.9 pts.) and Youngstown (+1.7 pts.). Tulsa, Greenville, and Charleston also experienced an improvement.

About 1 out of 3 metros have slowed since 2017. The mid-sized metros with the largest declines in growth rate are Lexington (2 pts. decrease), Stockton (-1.7 pts.) and Worcester (-1 pts.). Other metros with a large declining growth rate include Dayton, Jackson, and Colorado Springs.

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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