Metro Scorecard Results - November 2025

US job growth continues its multi-year downward trend, growing just 0.5% year-over-year in November.  This growth is significantly below the previous November growth of 1.3%.  Job creation continues to be dominated by Health Care and Leisure/Hospitality (including restaurants) which created 1 million new jobs in the last 12 months.  Manufacturing continues to lose jobs, and Construction job growth has cooled significantly.

But, how is job growth faring at the metro level?  Headlight’s Economic Scorecard shows that two out of three metros grew over the last 12 months, with mid-sized metros most likely to grow. 

Metro Employment Growth, Nov. 2025 (Y-o-Y)

Among top performers, Charlotte, Nashville, and Salt Lake City grew 1.5% or more, leading large metros.  Medium-sized metro leaders were Fayetteville (AR), Durham, and Jackson (MS), which grew 2.0% or more.  Small metros Rochester (MN), Myrtle Beach, and Mankato (MN) led with growth rates of 3.5% or higher.

In addition to our rankings, Our Economic Scorecard provides a one-page snapshot on every metro showing job growth trends by industry as shown below:

Click here to download your community’s Economic Scorecard.