Education and Health Services Dominate June Metro Job Gains
Perennial jobs leader New York again led all major markets for employment gains in the year-ending June 2025 with 91,700 new jobs. Mirroring the trend at the national level, the New York-White Plains/Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie, NY market saw the bulk of its employment gains in the Education and Health Services sector, but unlike the U.S.’s 35%, this industry accounted for an amazing 88.8% of those gains in New York. Together with the Government sector, 99.9% of New York’s job gains in the past year were in just two industries.
The next two of the top 10 markets for employment gains (Philadelphia and Los Angeles) also had very strong gains in the Education and Health Services sector (67% and 129%, respectively), and the remainder of the top 10 had gains from one-fifth to one-half of their total job gains in that sector. Orlando was the only top 10 job gain market with a larger share of employment gains in a different industry sector (Leisure and Hospitality Services at 31%).
Seven of last month’s top 10 job creation markets returned to the list in June with Washington, DC, San Antonio and Miami replaced by Los Angeles, Chicago and Raleigh/Durham. In fact, with the recent cuts in Government employment, DC dropped from #6 last month to #40 among RealPage’s top 150 markets for job gains.
Philadelphia remained in the #2 spot while Los Angeles and Charlotte improved their annual gains enough to rank #3 and #4, dropping Orlando to #5. Houston slipped to #6 and Dallas fell to #8 behind Chicago as Texas’ hot jobs markets continue to cool. Salt Lake City dropped to #10 behind the improving Raleigh/Durham market.
Together, the top 10 markets added 388,900 jobs in the year-ending June, which was about 94,600 more than the same 10 markets last June (up 32%) and 55,800 more than last month. Additionally, the next 10 markets (#11 through #20) of RealPage’s top job gain markets saw their total gains increase 32.1% from last year to total 195,700 new jobs.
Only New York gained between 50,000 and 99,999 jobs in June while the next 13 markets gained 20,000 jobs or more for the year, which was three more than last month. Additionally, 20 of our top 150 markets reported annual job losses for the year, four fewer than last month. Job losses continued in the Bay Area and in several Midwest markets such as St. Louis, Milwaukee, Madison and Des Moines. Although metro level job gains have improved this month, they are expected to slow somewhat in the coming year as economic uncertainties and tariff concerns weigh on employers minds.
Job Growth
Unlike the top job gain markets, which tend to be large in population and employment, smaller markets usually dominate the top markets for annual percentage change in employment. As we typically see, state capitals, college towns and resort or tourist destination cities dominate this list. Only five of May’s top markets for job change returned in June.
Myrtle Beach remained in the top spot on this month’s list with improvement in their percentage growth of 110 basis points (bps). The college towns of Fayetteville, AR and College Station, TX remained in the top four along with Charleston-North Charleston, NC.
Boise, ID also returned to this month’s list with 3.2% job growth, followed by another college town: Columbia, SC. Charlotte and Lansing, MI tied for the #7 spot with 2.6% growth and the southern markets of Lexington, KY and Greenville/Spartanburg, SC rounded out the top 10.
Outside of these top growth markets, Urban Honolulu, Raleigh/Durham, Syracuse, NY, Gainesville, FL, Tulsa, OK, Jackson, MS and Springfield, MO had employment growth rates between 2.2% and 2.3%. Including the top 10, there were 67 markets that exceeded the national not seasonally adjusted growth rate of 1.1%, which was eight more than last month.
This post is part of a series by RealPage Senior Real Estate Economist Chuck Ehmann analyzing employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For more on this data, read previous posts on Job Growth.
