Outside of Washington, DC, the mid-section of the country from Texas and Oklahoma northward through the Dakotas has held up the best — think energy, agriculture, commodities, no housing bubble. New York and Boston are bouncing back pretty well. And Pittsburgh, of all places, is the poster child for the comeback economy. It now has an energy component with companies seeking to mine the nearby Marcellus Shale.
Looking at job growth data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics over the last 12 months (July ’09 to July ’10), some surprising metros are in the top 20:
- College towns: Missoula, MT (U. of Montana), Manhattan, KS (Kansas State), College Station-Bryan, TX (Texas A&M), Las Cruces, NM (New Mexico State), Austin, TX (U. of Texas) and Iowa City, IA (U. of Iowa) are all in the top 20. In a way this is surprising given budget cuts at many public universities, but note that most of these are in the Texas/Great Plains swath of states mentioned above. Enrollment is up at many colleges as students stay in school to wait out the job market.
- Small Midwestern metros where export-led manufacturing and/or the auto industry have bounced back. Sandusky, OH (+4.0%), Kokomo, IN (+3.4%), Mansfield, OH (+2.6%) and Muncie, IN (+2.4% — also home to Ball State University). Keep in mind these areas were very hard hit.
- In absolute year-over-year job gains, top five metros are Washington, DC (41,800), Dallas-Fort Worth (31,300), Boston (21,300), Austin, TX (18,600), and Oklahoma City (9,200).
- Bottom five metros are Chicago (-70,800), San Francisco-Oakland (-42,800), New York (-28,900 – although it has bounced back since late last year), Riverside-San Bernardino (-22,800) and Detroit (-19,400).
Advertisement
