To be sure, New Orleans’ productivity growth between 2007 and 2022 is at least somewhat skewed by the impact of Hurricane Katrina, which hit in 2005 – meaning that some of what we are capturing is the city’s return to pre-disaster levels. That being said, the city also performed relatively well during the crisis of 2008; employment declined just 1% from 2008 to 2010, compared with a national average of 5%.25 The Big Easy also saw the scientific and technical sectors grow, and venture capital funding double, between 2010 and 2014. Both factors fed into strong GDP growth, even as the city continues to struggle with crime, inequality and overall employment.

Even with its population in decline since 2000, Pittsburgh has seen its per capita income increase by more than 20% since the turn of the century, a clear indication of productivity growth. The city has been working to transform its economy, moving away from its long-held status as the premier location for steel production. By the end of the 2010s , its largest sectors included advanced manufacturing, healthcare, energy, financial services and technology – all sectors that tend to yield high returns.

Utah has been in the midst of an expansion for some time – upon the release of the 2020 census, it had the fastest population growth rate of any state in the past decade, with many of those newcomers flocking to Salt Lake City and the surrounding area.28 The EMA has seen 30% growth in high-tech industries between 2015 and 2020, much of which came in the scientific research and development services industry, which grew almost 75% during those years. These high-productivity sectors have propelled Salt Lake City to its third-place spot on our list; it also made our ranking of the top 10 U.S. cities with the fastest-growing economies.

Portland’s population growth in recent decades has led to broad expansion across many industries, ranging from the food and beverage sector to technology and manufacturing. Its turnaround in productivity has been largely driven by rapid growth in high-productivity sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing and software publishing, the latter of which has nearly doubled in size since 2007. And of course, being home to the world headquarters of Nike and the U.S. HQ of Adidas, both major manufacturers, doesn’t hurt.

Much like Pittsburgh, Columbus has been transitioning from industrial production to smart tech, healthcare, higher education and other high-productivity sectors. Columbus won the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City challenge in 2015, receiving a $50 million grant to turn its plan for tech-based transportation innovation into a reality.

In 2007, Fresno was third from last in our productivity rankings. However, a painful reshuffling during and following the Great Recession to advanced manufacturing and its traditional reliance on agriculture, which – thanks to heavy mechanization – can be very productive, pushed its ranking up to spot number 36. It is important to note that these gains have been unevenly distributed – as of November 2022, Fresno reports a poverty rate of 20.6%, more than 1.5 times that of the state of California or the U.S. as a whole.

San Antonio has been growing across a diverse array of sectors, ranging from manufacturing to technology finance and insurance. Its status as a cybersecurity hub attracts many of the best and brightest in a high-productivity field that is growing in importance. The city’s noted collaborations among civic, academic and business entities allow for rapid innovation, which is then borne out in its economic output.

The second of three Ohio cities to make our list, Cincinnati has seen its manufacturing sector begin to rebound slightly since the Great Recession. At the same time, the city has observed drastic expansion in other high-productivity areas such as healthcare, which increased by about 16% between 2007 and 2022.

Oklahoma City has been making its way up through the middle of the pack, moving up to No. 22 in our 2022 list from No. 32 in 2007. The city has seen steady, sustained population growth through the past decade alongside continued public investment in its downtown, contributing to a quiet urban revival. Wages in the technology sector have increased by an average of 17% between 2016 and 2021, indicating the productivity growth that the EMA’s tech and energy sectors have undergone.

The final Ohio city to make the top 10 jumped from spot number 40 to number 31 in our rankings between 2007 and 2022. This move was driven in part by sharp declines in less competitive manufacturing sectors; the city’s population declined roughly 6% between 2010 and 2020. The city has, however, also been working to replace those less productive jobs with opportunities in more productive industries – healthcare in particular stands out as a sector in which both job and wage growth have outpaced the national averages.

During the past decade, Silicon Valley has become synonymous with innovation, tech jobs and startup-fueled growth as software applications play increasingly essential roles in modern life. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a spike in remote work and virtual gatherings, drastically expanding the valuation and cultural status of companies like San Jose-based Zoom. Worrisome signs for the region include announcements of hiring freezes and layoffs, and sharp jumps in the number of active real estate listings – as well as measures of homebuyer demand and competition – indicate the region’s housing market is among the fastest declining nationwide.

Austin’s status as a technology hub along with its high concentration of venture capital, warm climate and vibrant cultural offerings lead to frequent comparisons with the Bay Area – and in fact, high-profile Silicon Valley companies, including Amazon, Google, Oracle and Tesla, have recently expanded their operations in Austin. But those leaving the Bay Area may be bringing their former region’s housing issues with them – the median home value in Austin increased from $349,156 in August 2020 to $566,479 in August 2022, with average multifamily rents rising 10% year over year. And there are signs of hiring rates slowing down as 2022 has progressed, indicating that Austin’s labor boom may have already peaked.

While Seattle performs well in many of the top industries now driving growth – including software and biotech – it also stands out as a leader in clean energy. The city has recently experienced the construction of manufacturing labs for clean tech development, enacted new initiatives for cleaner buildings, and signed a Green New Deal in September 2022. In addition, Seattle-based giants Amazon and Microsoft have signaled their intent to expand integration of clean hydrogen to power their businesses. Given younger job-seekers show particular interest in environmental careers, these developments indicate positive growth prospects for the industry – and area – moving forward.

The Research Triangle (so named for the area’s triumvirate of Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has long been a powerhouse for biotech – and even amid possible cuts in the industry nationwide, more than $1 billion worth of biotech laboratory construction is underway in the greater Raleigh area. The Triangle hosts a bevy of tech companies among its top employers as well, including Cisco, Epic Games, IBM and Red Hat. They’ll soon be joined by Apple, which announced in 2021 its intention to invest $1 billion to establish its first East Coast campus in the Triangle – along with a $100 million fund for area schools and $110 million earmarked for infrastructure across the state.

During the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic, no metro area’s population grew more than Dallas-Fort Worth. The area’s addition of 97,290 people between June 2020 and July 2021 was not entirely surprising, however, as the area has reported robust and positive population growth each year since 1950. The region’s persistent attractiveness to new migrants is likely due – at least in part – to its diversity and strength across industries, with healthcare being a major driver of economic growth. In total, 19 Fortune 500 companies are based in Dallas, including AT&T, CBRE Group, Exxon Mobil, Southwest Airlines and Texas Instruments.

Denver’s growth has certainly been fueled by rising migration away from urban areas, but a less-discussed aspect of the area’s population boom has been the city’s retention of its natives and young workers. An August 2022 study found that a whopping 71% of millennials who lived in Denver at age 16 either stayed or returned by the time they turned 26. Software and financial services are among the region’s fastest-growing industries, with its aerospace, digital communications, and food and beverage sectors also expanding.

Beginning in 2020, Salt Lake City has rolled out initiatives with the broad goal of building a culture of innovation. These have included efforts to simplify the city’s financial system, expand the provision of digital and broadband, tackle climate change solutions and invest more heavily in entrepreneurship and startups. Meanwhile, the scientific and technical services sector reported 60% growth over the past ten years, with other sectors such as healthcare, retail trade, educational services and manufacturing also growing during the past decade. But the city is not immune to problems affecting similar high-growth areas, such as sharp rises in rent and expenses that have led to many businesses being priced out.

The greater Charlotte area has boomed in recent years. After adding nearly 20,000 new jobs in Q2 2022, the region has added an additional 12,000 new jobs in the first two months of Q3, putting it on track to report its ninth consecutive quarter of job growth. This second-largest banking center in the United States (behind New York City) is home to headquarters for Bank of America, Truist Financial and the East Coast operations of Wells Fargo. But financial services are not the city’s only standout sector, with education, health and professional and business services all outperforming national averages. Manufacturing, too, is on the rise, with Red Bull planning a $740 million multipurpose campus to be constructed in neighboring Concord. This latest addition is set to drive major job growth in the region, further diversifying the area’s economic prospects.

Tourism’s post-COVID rebound has greatly bolstered New Orleans’ economic standing in recent months, as the city’s leisure and hospitality services industry grew 6% between August 2021 and August 2022. Other established sources of revenue for the city include numerous offshore petrochemical plants and the Port of New Orleans, which is in the midst of a $100 million expansion. One potential threat to the regrowth of the tourism sector, however, is the city’s newly acquired status as home to the most homicides per capita. In addition, New Orleans had far less employment growth than the rest of the top 10 – a data point supported anecdotally by a variety of employers, many of whom report a shortage of workers – which could indicate the city has even more room to grow in coming years.

Orlando may be most strongly associated with its theme parks, and tourism does constitute roughly one-third of the economy for Florida’s fastest-growing city. But its volume of visitors is also bolstered by the city’s role as the second-largest trade show destination in the U.S., and is fed by three international airports. Taken together, tourism generates enough revenue for the city to offset significant tax incentives for sectors such as aerospace. In addition, Orlando is known as one of the modeling and simulation capitals of the world, boasting a $6 billion sector in this growing field that features not only public sector and military employers, but also a growing number of private sector employers in healthcare, gaming and virtual reality.