It’s a great time to be in the US labor force, but workers in certain cities are benefiting more than others.
Among larger metropolitan areas with at least 1 million residents, Jacksonville, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Las Vegas, Nevada saw the greatest positive changes in employment from November 2022 through 2023, according to a report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released on Monday (Jan. 8).
Employment also grew notably in Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and Miami, Florida. Only cities with statistically significant changes in employment were noted in Quartz’s analysis.
Among cities with fewer than 1 million residents, the places where employment increased the most (pdf) were Lawrence, Kansas (9.7%); Charleston (5.9%), South Carolina; and Salinas, California (4.5%).
The cities zooming forward in job growth
🌞 Jacksonville, FL: Things continue to look especially bright in this area of the Sunshine State, relative to the rest of the nation. The city’s unemployment rate is about a full percentage point lower than the country’s overall, and its job market keeps outperforming the rest of Florida. Jobs grew fastest in education and health services, which seems like a no-brainer, given the city’s hospitals, universities, colleges, and competitive school district. In 2023, Jacksonville was ranked in the top 25 best places for young professionals to live by US News.
🎰 Las Vegas, NV: In Sin City, employment grew even as the state’s jobless rate remained the highest in the nation. Whether Las Vegas really has a booming job market is up for debate, but there’s no question that its labor force is diversifying, with workers increasingly entering higher-paid sectors. In November, the city’s manufacturing and professional and business services industries saw the largest employment gains. Vegas has also been a recent favorite of sports leagues: The NBA hosted its Summer League there, and the city is hosting the NFL Super Bowl in February. Locals go so far as to call it the “Sports Capital of the World.”
The city has a still-high unemployment rate of 5.1%—but that’s actually not bad, considering that 5% or lower is considered “full employment.”
🌳 Raleigh, NC: Ranked the third-best city to live in the nation by US News and one of the best places to work by WalletHub, Raleigh is part of three cities (also including Durham and Chapel Hill) known as the “Research Triangle,” a tech hub described as the Silicon Valley of the East Coast. Research consulting firm ProPharma and communications company Bandwidth recently relocated their headquarters there, and Apple is set to establish its main East Coast campus in the Research Triangle. Also notable was Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank’s acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year, which sent the former’s stock soaring almost 80% in 2023.
Raleigh’s leisure and hospitality sector grew the fastest year-over-year as of November.