30 Cities That Are Primed for Meteoric Job Growth

If it’s jobs you’re after, look no further than the Lone Star State.

By 2028, job growth is predicted to surge by double digits in 34 U.S. cities, according to Money's analysis of data provided by the economic research firm Moody’s Analytics, and more than a dozen of those cities are located in Texas.

Moody’s estimated the growth in jobs over a five-year period from 2023 to 2028 for over 900 U.S. cities nationwide, and the firm shared its latest projections with Money. Based on these cities, national job growth is expected to be around 3.25% over that same time period.

Cities where jobs are expected to boom

Outside of Texas, several cities in Florida, Arizona and Colorado are projected to have a strong influx of jobs in the coming years. On the other hand, none of the top cities for job growth are in the Northeast or West Coast.

Here are all the cities Moody’s expects to have at least a 10% growth in jobs between 2023 and 2028:

1. New Braunfels, Texas: 21%
2. Conroe, Texas: 16.7%
3. The Woodlands, Texas: 16.7%
4. Missouri City, Texas: 16.3%
5. Sugar Land, Texas: 16.3%
6. Allen, Texas: 16.3%
7. Frisco, Texas: 15.5%
8. McKinney, Texas: 15.5%
9. Plano, Texas: 15.5%
10. Denton, Texas: 15.5%
11. Flower Mound, Texas: 15.5%
12. Lewisville, Texas: 15.5%
13. Kissimmee, Florida: 15.2%
14. San Marcos, Texas: 14.7%
15. Cedar Park, Texas: 14.3%
16. Georgetown, Texas: 14.3%
17. Round Rock, Texas: 14.3%
18. Casa Grande, Arizona: 14%
19. Maricopa, Arizona: 14%
20. San Tan Valley, Arizona: 14%
21. Franklin, Tennessee: 12%
22. Wesley Chapel, Florida: 11.7%
23. Murfreesboro, Tennessee: 11.3%
24. Palm Coast, Florida: 11.1%
25. Caldwell, Idaho: 11%
26. Nampa, Idaho: 11%
27. Castle Rock, Colorado: 11%
28. Highlands Ranch, Colorado: 11%
29. Parker, Colorado: 11%
30. Ashburn, Virginia: 11%
31. Southaven, Mississippi: 11%
32. Port St. Lucie, Florida: 10.4%
33. Frederick, Maryland: 10.2%
34. Pearland, Texas: 10%

Why Texas dominates job growth

Texas has been a job-creating powerhouse over the past several years, and Moody’s projections suggest many Texas towns will keep the trend going for the foreseeable future.

Such healthy job forecasts have, in part, led to several Texas cities like Flower Mound, Round Rock and Sugar Land appearing as mainstays on Money’s rankings of the Best Places to Live and Best Places to Retire over the past several years.

According to Texas’s state labor department, the state reached a total of 14.1 million jobs last year and has been experiencing “27 consecutive months of new series employment highs” thanks to booms in the oil, financial services and construction industries.

On Friday, though, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas hinted that the streak may soon be coming to an end.

“We're cleared for landing,” said Pia Orrenius, the vice president of the Dallas Fed, “landing back to our long run trend rate of growth.” The Dallas Fed said it expects the state to add 2% more jobs by the end of 2024 — a healthy pace but one slower than the state’s meteoric growth of late.

Even so, Moody’s projections suggest several Texas towns didn’t get the memo.

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