Nearly four years after COVID locked down the U.S. economy, the top 50 Leading Metro Locations in 2024 still depict the ripple effect of the shift to remote work. The large population and business centers of New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco were again absent from the top 50 list. Only five large metro areas were scattered among the top 50 and four of them were in Florida where social distancing rules were relatively lax during COVID. Outside of Florida, Las Vegas was the remaining large metro area ranked 40th overall.
Small population regions dominated the top 50 list with 33 metro areas. Leading the list is the small metro area of Brownsville, Texas which catapulted from a ranking of 17 in 2023 to first in 2024. It benefited from large growth in STEM job ads and advanced industry job growth thanks in large part to SpaceX.
Rounding out the top three metros, Miami, Florida inched up from fourth in 2023 to second in 2024. Olympia, Washington slipped to third in 2024 from a second-place ranking in 2023.
Two of the top three metro areas in 2023 dropped significantly in 2024. First ranking Salt Lake City, Utah fell to sixteenth in 2024 as relative growth in advanced industries did not keep up with other metro areas. Decatur, Alabama plummeted to a ranking of 152 as COVID reshuffling led to a decline in working age population and an increase in youth and retirees. Growth in STEM jobs over the last few years was relatively low and the unemployment rate did not decline as much when compared to other metro areas.
The South Atlantic region was by far the most attractive location with 21 metros in the top 50 followed by the Southwest region with six of the metros in Texas and the seventh in Arizona. Only two regions were not represented in the top 50 locations. The Mid-Atlantic failed to make the list with Buffalo-Cheektowaga, New York ranking the highest at 70 with a score of 60.7. New England was also absent with Norwich-New London, Connecticut scoring 61.2 and ranking 64.
