Texas Leads the Nation for Job Gains in July

Texas led the nation for annual employment gains with 165,600 new jobs in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ seasonally adjusted data. Four of Texas’ five major markets were among the top 10 for not seasonally adjusted job gains. While missing out on a top 10 spot, San Antonio reported job gains at a still respectable 10,100 positions for the year.

Although California was second behind Texas for annual gains with 112,700 jobs, Los Angeles was the only major market among the top 10. San Jose and Riverside made the top 20 but Anaheim, San Francisco and San Diego were well down the list.

North Carolina placed third nationally with a 51,600-job increase in employment, but Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham ranked only #11 and #16 for annual job gains in July. On a month-over-month basis, Maryland, Illinois and Washington each increased seasonally adjusted employment by close to 12,000 new jobs apiece.

Eight of last month’s top 10 job change markets returned in July with Philadelphia and Fort Worth replacing Charlotte and Las Vegas among the top 10. New York continues to lead all markets with Houston, Los Angeles and Dallas following behind. Phoenix and Minneapolis-St. Paul each moved up a spot while Salt Lake City moved up three spots to #7.

Metro-level job gains appear to be improving as the sum of this month’s top 10 markets totaled 357,800 new jobs, an improvement of 32,400 jobs from June for these same 10 markets and 150,200 more than last year.

Additionally, the next 10 markets (#11 to #20) of RealPage’s top job gain markets saw total gains increase 55,300 jobs to 161,400 new jobs compared to last July but decrease 5,100 jobs from June.

Job losses continued but improved slightly in Washington, DC, Portland, OR and Indianapolis, while an additional 30 of RealPage’s top 150 markets reported job losses for the year, the same number as last month. Job loss markets were primarily in the Midwest and South Atlantic regions.

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.

That is especially true this month as eight of the top 10 job growth markets are college towns, tourist destinations or state capitals – or a combination among the three. Only Midland/Odessa, TX (oil and gas) and Fresno, CA (agriculture) do not fit those descriptions.

Only five of June’s top job growth markets returned in July.

Myrtle Beach, SC was the lone market of last month’s top three to return at the top as Las Vegas saw job growth fall from 2.9% in June to 1.4% in July, knocking it to #23. Baton Rouge, LA jumped from #5 in June to #2 this month, while the “petroplex” of Midland/Odessa jumped onto this month’s list at #3 with a 300-basis point (bps) turnaround from last month’s rate of -0.2%.

Greenville/Spartanburg, SC and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR edged out Fresno with solid increases in employment of about 2.6% each, while Salt Lake City returned as the only major market among the top percentage change markets. Charleston, SC, Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL and Springfield, MO rounded out the top 10 with a three-way tie at #8.  

All of the top 10 job growth markets had greater growth rates than one month ago. After Midland/Odessa’s big change, Myrtle Beach and Baton Rouge had 190 bps increases from June and Charleston jumped 140 bps. Salt Lake City, Springfield and Greenville/Spartanburg each improved about 100 bps for the month.

Compared to last July, all but three of the top 10 growth markets improved their growth rates with Baton Rouge swinging from negative to positive (520 bps change). Myrtle Beach and Fresno each had 200+ bps improvements and Midland/Odessa, Greenville/Spartanburg and Salt Lake City improved by 130 to 170 bps. The remaining top markets were unchanged or had a slight decrease from last July’s growth rates.

Outside of the top 10 growth markets, six markets (including Austin, Fort Worth and Nashville) had employment growth rates of about 1.6%, followed by five markets at 1.5% (Houston) and six markets (including Charlotte, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Raleigh/Durham) at 1.4% growth.

Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ led for percentage loss at 4.1%, while job loss leaders Washington, DC and Portland, OR continued to have large percentage decreases at 2.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Eighty-one markets met or exceeded the U.S. average growth rate of 0.6% (not seasonally adjusted).