AreaProfile

ResearchJobs

The Large Metros With the Strongest Employment Momentum

Unemployment tells you where a labor market is. Employment change tells you where it is going.

AreaProfile ResearchPublished August 29, 2026Data as of June 2026

Employment change over the year to June 2026 across the largest US metropolitan areas. These figures count employed residents of the metro, not jobs located in it, which is why a commuter-heavy metro can look different here than in payroll data.

Key findings

  • Pittsburgh, PA leads on one-year employment growth at +2.4%.
  • 14 of the 20 largest metros shown added employed residents over the year.
  • Unemployment across this group ranges from 3.1% to 7.7%.
MetroOne-year changeThree-year changeUnemploymentEmployed residents
Pittsburgh, PA+2.4%+1.4%3.8%1,207,455
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD+2.1%+1.7%4.1%3,213,768
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA+1.5%+2.4%3.5%3,252,603
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV+0.8%+4.7%5.2%1,167,632
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN+0.6%+1.2%3.9%1,145,931
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD+0.4%−0.3%4.0%1,447,490
Raleigh-Cary, NC+0.4%+2.5%3.1%836,062
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL+0.4%−0.2%4.6%1,471,906
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ+0.4%+1.1%4.5%9,910,344
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI+0.4%−0.9%3.8%780,687
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX+0.2%+5.9%4.1%1,505,300
Columbus, OH+0.1%+2.8%3.3%1,137,873
St. Louis, MO-IL+0.1%+0.5%3.8%1,441,010
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT+0.0%+1.4%3.6%717,788
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC−0.0%+0.3%3.6%1,431,898
Urban Honolulu, HI−0.2%+1.5%3.1%462,562
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN−0.4%+3.2%3.2%1,164,841
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX−0.4%+3.8%4.7%4,359,978
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX−0.5%+4.0%5.2%3,716,242
Fresno, CA−0.5%+1.0%7.7%501,854
Change in employed residents, year to June 2026.
Pittsburgh+2.4%Philadelphia+2.1%Atlanta+1.5%Las Vegas+0.8%Cincinnati+0.6%Baltimore+0.4%Raleigh+0.4%Orlando+0.4%New York+0.4%Milwaukee+0.4%Austin+0.2%Columbus+0.1%St. Louis+0.1%Salt Lake City0%Charlotte0%
One-year change in employed residents, twenty largest-gaining metros.

Local Area Unemployment Statistics are model-based estimates and are revised. AreaProfile keeps the full monthly series, so revisions are visible rather than silently overwriting history.

Methodology

Metropolitan areas of one million or more residents, ranked by the percentage change in employed residents against the same month one year earlier, from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics. The unemployment rate for the same month is shown alongside, because the two measures can move independently — a metro can add jobs while unemployment rises if its labor force is growing faster.

Sources

Related

This report is generated from a stored query against the AreaProfile database. See the methodology for how the underlying data is collected and normalized, and the editorial policy for how these reports are written.