Best Large Metros for Opportunity

Metropolitan areas of one million or more, ranked by Opportunity

How the largest US labor markets compare on employment conditions and earnings.

40 locations · Calculated September 22, 2026 · Download CSV

The supporting columns show on a wider screen, and every column is in the CSV.

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40 places, ranked nationally.

#	Metro	Score	Unemployment rate	Median household income
1	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area	86.1	3.2%	$89,724
2	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area	83.5	3.5%	$98,083
3	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area	82.3	3.0%	$85,447
4	Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area	81.6	2.8%	$106,195
5	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metro Area	79.8	4.0%	$100,431
6	Columbus, OH Metro Area	79.0	3.2%	$81,945
7	Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area	78.3	3.2%	$100,103
8	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area	76.6	3.7%	$81,120
9	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area	76.0	4.2%	$91,289
10	Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area	75.8	3.7%	$75,762
11	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area	74.9	3.4%	$79,852
12	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area	74.5	4.3%	$99,155
13	St. Louis, MO-IL Metro Area	72.4	3.8%	$80,196
14	Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area	71.1	3.8%	$83,460
15	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area	69.6	3.8%	$78,218
16	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area	67.6	4.6%	$90,275
17	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area	65.8	3.7%	$83,304
18	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area	65.1	4.1%	$162,111
19	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area	64.8	4.2%	$99,470
20	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area	63.7	3.7%	$76,527
21	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area	63.1	4.3%	$115,863
22	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area	62.6	5.1%	$82,168
23	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area	60.7	4.8%	$115,177
24	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro Area	60.2	4.8%	$73,863
25	Richmond, VA Metro Area	60.0	3.8%	$86,679
26	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area	59.7	4.1%	$105,762
27	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metro Area	59.5	5.4%	$76,472
28	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area	59.5	4.4%	$72,237
29	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area	59.1	4.7%	$76,213
30	Rochester, NY Metro Area	58.8	4.2%	$76,284
31	Birmingham, AL Metro Area	58.1	3.5%	$71,498
32	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area	56.6	4.0%	$126,684
33	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area	56.0	4.2%	$87,040
34	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro Area	55.7	4.9%	$97,436
35	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area	55.4	4.4%	$99,833
36	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area	54.5	3.9%	$82,330
37	Oklahoma City, OK Metro Area	54.4	4.3%	$72,094
38	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area	54.1	4.7%	$78,533
39	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area	53.2	4.4%	$136,027
40	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area	52.3	4.7%	$106,268

Methodology

The AreaProfile Opportunity signal applied to metropolitan areas, using BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics for the metro and ACS five-year estimates for income and educational attainment.

What is excluded, and why

Metropolitan areas under one million residents.

The top 40 of the 55 metros that meet these criteria are listed.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics (la)
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) (2024)

Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page, and how rankings like this one are built and reviewed is on the editorial policy page.