Dallas-Plano still leads the U.S. job market after the 2023 calculation. (The city also led the U.S. in commercial real estate transactions last year, according to MSCI.) Meanwhile, other cities in the top 10 job markets have undergone some restructuring as fundamentals in their areas have changed.
Real Page report Dallas-Plano was the only market to add more than 100,000 jobs in 2023, adding 101,000 jobs. Los Angeles was the next most likely to add 95,800 jobs.
New York, which ranked second in November, dropped to seventh place. Philadelphia maintained its third place position by adding 81,100 jobs, a slight decrease of 2,100 from November.
Boston rose three spots to fourth, adding 77,900 jobs in 2023, an improvement from November and December of last year. Atlanta rose one spot to fifth, adding 72,000 jobs, for a full-year total 27,600 fewer than in 2022.
Houston dropped two spots to No. 6 but added 70,100 jobs. Miami ranked No. 8 and Las Vegas ranked No. 9. Phoenix completed the top 10.
The top 10 markets overall saw a decrease of 22,300 compared to last year. However, markets ranked 11-20 saw an overall increase of 12,800.
In terms of employment rate growth by market, the average employment rate growth in the top 10 markets in December was 4.1%, the same rate as the previous month.
Charleston, South Carolina remains in first place with growth of 6%, 10 basis points (bps) higher than last month. Las Vegas and Salinas, California, in second place with growth of 4.1%, are moving in different directions: Las Vegas is up 30 bps this month and Salinas is down 40 bps. Miami and Raleigh/Durham are in fourth place with growth of 3.9%, the same as last month.
The leading markets with job losses were Denver and Detroit. Memphis was unchanged. Markets with growth rates of less than 1% included Milwaukee, Columbus, Ohio, Buffalo, Virginia Beach, Des Moines, Chicago, New York, Kansas City and San Jose.
Major markets with growth rates below 1.5% include West Palm Beach, Washington DC, Portland and San Francisco.
The biggest changes outside the top growth markets were in Birmingham, Spokane, Akron, Santa Maria/Santa Barbara and Baltimore, each of which saw job growth increase by more than 180 bps over last year.
Meanwhile, the cities with the biggest job losses were Midland/Odessa, Orlando, Wilmington, North Carolina, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, and Austin, all of which saw declines of at least 350 basis points from last year’s job growth rate.
