May 2025-May 2026 Metro Area Job Growth

[dimondpark]

This was released today, July 1, 2026

Largest US Metro Areas by
Change in Non-Farm Jobs, May 2025-May 2026
+48,600------New York-Newark-Jersey City
+24,700------Dallas-Ft Worth-Arlington
+24,500------Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas
+23,600------Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler
+21,300------Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
+19,000------Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
+18,300------Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford
+17,800------Salt Lake City-Murray
+17,600------San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
+16,700------Raleigh-Cary
+14,900------Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
+13,400------San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad
+9,100-------Fresno
+6,700-------San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
+6,300-------Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
+5,900-------Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
+5,400-------Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington
+5,300-------Cincinnati
+4,800-------San Antonio-New Braunfels
+4,200-------Nashville-Murfreesboro-Frankin
+3,600-------Birmingham
+3,200-------Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford
+2,900-------Kansas City
+2,700-------Columbus
+2,100-------Honolulu
+1,900-------Cleveland
+1,000-------Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
+800---------Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
+100---------Tucson
-300---------Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
-500---------Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater
-700---------Memphis
-1,100-------Rochester
-1,400-------Buffalo-Cheektowaga
-1,400-------Tulsa
-2,000-------Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
-2,300-------New Orleans-Metairie
-3,000-------Jacksonville
-3,900-------Oklahoma City
-3,900-------St Louis
-6,100-------Louisville
-6,400-------Richmond
-7,400-------Milwaukee-Waukesha
-8,000-------Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
-9,100-------Miami-Ft Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
-9,300-------Providence-Warwick
-9,400-------Denver-Aurora-Centennial
-10,700------Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
-11,200------Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
-12,600------Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
-15,400------Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor
-15,700------Boston-Cambridge-Newton
-35,000------Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
-100,500-----Washington-Arlington-Alexandria

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.nr0.htm

Some notes:

The key word here imho is Stagnation. Most of these changes are marginal.

These are the only Metros where growth or loss
was 1% or greater--only 3 have growth that qualify as moderate growth(2%+) and 2 have moderate losses(-2%+)
+2.2%--Raleigh
+2.1%--Las Vegas
+2.1%--Salt Lake City
+1.5%--San Jose
+1.4%--Charlotte
+1.2%--Orlando
+1.1%--Austin
+1.0%--Phoenix
-1.1%--Indianapolis
-1.2%--Providence
-2.8%--Portland
-3.0%--Washington DC

Note to self: Take a closer look at Portland.

The gains are significantly off their peak,
for example, NY, Dallas and Houston were
each adding 100,000+ annually just
a few years ago.

DC continues to be affected by govt austerity

However, 3 Metro Areas, Las Vegas, Detroit and
Fresno, have unemployment rates that are over 5%,
this is significant because many economists
conclude that unemployment under 5% is
"full employment".