Since the 1920s, oil and energy have been the preeminent sectors in Midland (and its sibling city, Odessa, which is in the same EMA). Productivity in the oil sector drives the city’s high performance; the mining and construction sector employs roughly 30% of the area’s workforce but accounts for a whopping 60% of the EMA’s GDP. Recent technological advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract oil and gas have led to a boom in the West Texas area over the past decade – and population has grown accordingly, increasing 30% in the 2010s. The 2022 spike in energy prices propelled it to the top of our fastest-growing midsize cities.

As in our analysis of the fastest-growing economies in large U.S. cities, Texas is home to multiple top-10 entries. Even in a state with several booming areas, Amarillo stands out, as it had the lowest unemployment level in the state in 2022 (2.6%). Amarillo is home to a diverse set of industries, including meatpacking, petroleum extraction, agriculture and logistics; the EMA also hosts a major refinery in Borger with a strong economic presence, reflected in the city’s high percentage of employment in nondurable manufacturing (which accounted for nearly 25% of the EMA’s GDP in 2021). The city has really taken off since the pandemic; fiscal 2021 marked the city’s strongest economic growth in 30 years and brought in record sales tax revenue, which it then used to fund business incentives through the Amarillo Economic Development Corp.

Fort Collins has maintained excellent economic health and stability throughout the past decade, as demonstrated by its 55% growth in GDP (second only to Midland in our 100 midsize cities) and 28% growth in employment in the past 10 years. Public-private partnerships were essential to bolstering the city’s standing; the zero-energy district FortZED and a comprehensive city plan (which includes dedicated urban planning around livability, easy transportation and business incentives) serve as two examples of how the city has fostered private initiatives. The approach has yielded consistent expansion: The Fort Collins EMA observed 7.9% job growth between 2016 and 2021, and has accounted for roughly 95% of the state’s multifamily building permits since 2010.

While Santa Barbara is the more recognizable city in this EMA, the area’s growth has actually been driven by its lesser-known neighbor, Santa Maria. From 2000 to 2020, Santa Maria’s population grew roughly 40.1%, allowing it to eclipse Santa Barbara as the largest city in Santa Barbara County (and in this EMA). Aerospace and agriculture are the major industries in Santa Maria and the northern side of the county, while tourism and government represent major employers in Santa Barbara and the south.

Fayetteville, which is Arkansas’ second-largest city (behind the capital of Little Rock) and home to the state’s flagship university, is projected to be among the fastest-growing cities in the United States by 2060. That may be a few years off, but Fayetteville, Springdale and the surrounding Northwest Arkansas region have certainly been on the rise – the area reported 7,500 new jobs between 2019 and 2021 and a growth in median household income of 16.4%. However, the all-too-familiar growing pain of ballooning housing prices now plagues the area; Northwest Arkansas reported the second-largest increase in median housing price of any U.S. metropolitan area in 2022.

As the headquarters of the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. (Koch Industries), as well as a major hub for the largest (Cargill), Wichita benefits from a wealth of economic and business resources. According to Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research, the city tends to outperform state and national trends – and is projected to continue to do so in 2023, even if a recession should hit. And, as the “Air Capital of the World” (so dubbed in 1929 by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce for its concentration of aircraft manufacturers), Wichita is poised to benefit from the continued recovery of air travel and the airline industry after its pandemic-related setback.

New York City may lay claim to being one of the world’s unofficial capitals, but the actual New York state capital has been quietly building its own reputation. Albany boasts strong employment from government, healthcare and education, as well as easy access to the Hudson Valley, the Adirondack Mountains and major metropolitan areas such as Montreal and Boston. Tech jobs have been gradually coming to the area as well, with employers such as Plug Power (hydrogen fuel cells) and GlobalFoundries (semiconductors) recently expanding their manufacturing facilities in Albany – which may offset the region’s relatively stagnant population growth.

Roughly 100 miles south of the San Francisco Bay Area (which has dominated the rankings of our largest U.S. cities), Salinas has long been recognized as a major agricultural center – its crop output alone delivers more than $8 billion in annual economic impact, according to one study. The city’s proximity to the Bay Area is a boon for its strong agricultural technology sector; since 2015, Forbes’ AgTech Summit has taken place in Salinas. Housing affordability remains an issue, however, as the Housing Opportunity Index (the percentage of homes sold that are affordable to families earning the area’s median income) for the city has fallen drastically in the past year and a half, and hovering around 5% as of February 2023.

A burgeoning tech sector has in recent years bolstered the growth of “Silicon Harbor,” with the city leading the nation in IT job growth for much of the 2010s. Aerospace and automotive manufacturing also helped drive growth in the area, with Boeing and Mercedes-Benz each having major assembly plants in Charleston County. Moreover, the pandemic appears not to have disrupted Charleston’s continued expansion – the city came in 10th in U-Haul’s 2022 growth rankings, which are based on net migration that the rental truck company observes in its data.

Located in central California’s San Joaquin Valley, Visalia has posted record numbers – even through the pandemic. In fiscal 2021, sales tax revenue increased 14% year over year, property tax revenue went up 6% and hotel tax revenue shot up 22%. The city also reported record numbers of building alterations and additions in 2021, as well as the highest number of new multifamily units since 2007. UPS and MilliporeSigma have built new distribution facilities in the city’s industrial park in recent years, expanding the area’s industry beyond its traditional agricultural focus.

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.