North Texas tops Forbes' best cities for jobs
With 25.6-percent job growth since 2006, the Dallas-Plano-Irving area ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ 2018 list of the best cities for jobs.
It marks the North Texas region’s second year in the top spot after it dethroned San Francisco in 2016. Its two-year reign stems from consistent job growth over the past several years, Forbes reported. Last year, Dallas-Plano-Irving posted 2.8-percent growth, and has seen 19.6-percent growth since 2012.
“Simply put, this Energizer bunny just doesn’t stop,” Forbes wrote.
The region is poised to keep hold of its job consistency for a few reasons. It’s home to a range of industries, with the Big D posting double-digit percentage growth in almost every sector that Forbes measures, from energy to business services and construction to finance. Show Full Story
It also offers financial factors attractive to both companies and workers, including affordable housing and low taxes, Forbes added.
The proof of “the Big D’s domination” can be seen in the growth of its resident and business populations. Last year, the region saw a 2.02-percent increase in residents.
And over the past few years, Dallas-Plano-Irving has attracted a number of headquarters relocations, including Toyota North America, Jamba Juice, Pei Wei and Jet Suite.
Last month, Smoothie King also announced it’s moving to the Irving area.
If they’re not moving here, many companies are opening major hubs in the region. Last week, Payless announced a new office in Dallas. It joins others like JP Morgan Chase, Liberty Mutual and Boeing in dotting North Texas with a diverse range of corporate campuses.
Dallas is leading what Forbes dubbed the “surging south,” as many of the list’s top spots went to southern cities. Austin ranked second, logging 39-percent job growth since 2006.
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee; Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina; Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida; and Raleigh, North Carolina, took third, fifth, sixth and seventh on the list, respectively.
While Dallas beat out Silicon Valley and other California cities that traditionally top Forbes’ list, a few still made the top 10. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara took fourth, with 3-percent job growth last year. That was propelled by information companies like Google, Facebook and Netflix, as growth in sectors like finance, business and professional services is slowing, Forbes said.
Similarly, San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco held onto the top 10, at eighth, with 8.7 percent information job growth, down from 12 percent it’s logged since 2006. Business and professional services jobs grew 4 percent, compared to 5.6 percent over the past 10 years.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California, took ninth with 3.78-percent job growth last year.
Other major markets, including New York (No. 24), Los Angeles (No. 48) and Chicago (No. 55) logged slower job growth as they see more outward migration as they grapple with trying to create higher-paying jobs over those with smaller paychecks, like in the leisure and hospitality industry.
To compile its list, Forbes looked at short-, medium- and long-term job growth, and whether job creation is accelerating in a region. See the publication’s full methodology here.
