Pockets of employment weakness dot the U.S. map despite a cumulative increase in annual job gains among RealPage’s top 10 markets from March to April.
Bay Area metros, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, all posted moderate job losses for the year ending in April, continuing a trend that emerged earlier this year. Several Midwest metros have also begun to experience employment losses, though milder, including in St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines and Milwaukee, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Markets that have been stronger in job creation in recent months continue to lead the nation, with nine of the top 10 employment gain leaders from RealPage’s March ranking returning in April. Perennial leader New York is once again at the top of the list with 81,000 new jobs added for the year, a slight increase from last month but down 63,200 from April 2024.
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Texas markets also posted strong job creation figures, with Houston adding 40,400 to place second, Dallas adding 37,300 for third and San Antonio adding 23,900 to place eighth on RealPage’s list. Along the East Coast, Philadelphia came in fourth with 35,800 new jobs, Charlotte came in fifth with 30,400, Orlando dropped two spots to sixth with 28,300 and Washington D.C. tacked on 26,700, putting it in seventh position. Miami placed 10th with 20,900.
Salt Lake City was the sole representative of the Western United States, with 22,700 new jobs, ranking it ninth overall on the list. The market knocked Raleigh/Durham out of the top 10 for at least the month.
Combined, the top 10 markets added 347,400 jobs for the year ending in April, which is about 110,400 fewer than a year ago. Additionally, the next 10 markets saw their total gains decrease to 158,700 new jobs, said the report. Twenty-two of the report’s top 150 markets reported annual employment losses for the year, an improvement from 31 last month. In addition to the Bay Area and Midwest markets, declines occurred in Memphis, Grand Rapids, Portland, Oregon, Spokane and a few smaller metros.
The ranking of markets based on annual percentage change in employment was more fluid, with only five of March’s top markets returning in April. Smaller markets typically dominate the top markets for annual percentage change in employment and are led by state capitals, college towns and tourist destinations. The top 10 in April were the Myrtle Beach, North Carolina-South Carolina market; Charleston, South Carolina; Honolulu, Hawaii; Huntsville, Alabama; College Station, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas-Missouri; Jackson, Mississippi; Salem, Oregon; and Salt Lake City.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
