Read about how we selected the 2015 Best Cities for Job Growth
We used five measures of growth to rank MSAs over the past 10 years. “Large” areas include those with a current nonfarm employment base of at least 450,000 jobs. “Midsize” areas range from 150,000 to 450,000 jobs. “Small” areas have as many as 150,000 jobs. This year’s rankings reflect the new Office of Management and Budget definitions of MSAs for all series released after March 2015. As a result, the MSA listed in this year’s rankings do not necessary correspond directly to those listed in prior years. In some instances, MSAs were consolidated with others — for example Pascagoula, MS, was combined with the Gulfport-Biloxi, MS, MSA to form the new Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, MS, MSA. Others were separated from previously consolidated MSAs and in still other instances individual counties were shifted from one MSA to another. The bottom line is that this year’s rankings are based on good time series for the newly defined MSAs but may not be precisely comparable to those listed in prior years. The total number of MSAs included in this year’s rankings has risen from 398 to 421. This year’s rankings reflect the current size of each MSA’s employment.
| 2015 Rank Among Small Cities | Area | 2015 Weighted INDEX | 2014 Nonfarm Emplymt (1000s) | Rank Change | 2014 Size Ranking |
| 1 | San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA Metro Div. | 97.5 | 1,034.2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 97.2 | 1,031.5 | -1 | 1 |
| 3 | Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metro Div. | 91.4 | 2,346.3 | 6 | 9 |
| 4 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 90.9 | 924.9 | -1 | 3 |
| 5 | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 90.8 | 892.0 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 90.2 | 2,973.6 | -1 | 5 |
| 7 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 89.6 | 1,364.0 | 3 | 10 |
| 8 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 88.8 | 1,135.7 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 86.2 | 1,085.8 | 5 | 14 |
| 10 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 84.9 | 960.3 | 2 | 12 |
| 11 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 83.9 | 1,319.1 | 6 | 17 |
| 12 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 83.2 | 2,551.7 | 12 | 24 |
| 13 | Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Div. | 82.8 | 993.0 | -2 | 11 |
| 14 | Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metro Div. | 82.6 | 1,575.6 | 1 | 15 |
| 15 | Raleigh, NC | 82.5 | 571.5 | -11 | 4 |
| 16 | Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metro Div. | 81.5 | 1,114.8 | 2 | 18 |
| 17 | New York City, NY | 80.9 | 4,165.9 | -10 | 7 |
| 18 | West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL Metro Div. | 80.8 | 576.2 | 7 | 25 |
| 19 | Salt Lake City, UT | 78.7 | 666.2 | -6 | 13 |
| 20 | Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL Metro Div. | 78.2 | 796.1 | 7 | 27 |
| 21 | Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN | 77.4 | 642.4 | 15 | 36 |
| 22 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 77.0 | 1,090.5 | -3 | 19 |
| 23 | Kansas City, KS | 74.0 | 458.8 | 16 | 39 |
| 24 | Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI | 73.9 | 521.2 | -21 | 3 |
| 25 | Columbus, OH | 72.3 | 1,028.2 | -5 | 20 |
| 26 | Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA Metro Div. | 72.3 | 1,524.2 | 8 | 34 |
| 27 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 71.4 | 1,900.0 | -5 | 22 |
| 28 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 71.1 | 1,372.3 | 4 | 32 |
| 29 | Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, CA Metro Div. | 70.5 | 1,081.5 | 2 | 31 |
| 30 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | 69.1 | 896.8 | 3 | 33 |
| 31 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN | 68.7 | 1,006.9 | -2 | 29 |
| 32 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 68.5 | 1,224.2 | -4 | 28 |
| 33 | Oklahoma City, OK | 67.8 | 625.8 | -17 | 16 |
| 34 | Jacksonville, FL | 65.9 | 633.5 | -13 | 21 |
| 35 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metro Div. | 64.4 | 4,295.6 | 2 | 37 |
| 36 | Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA | 59.0 | 902.1 | 7 | 43 |
| 37 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Div. | 57.8 | 1,742.0 | -14 | 23 |
| 38 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 57.4 | 1,903.7 | 1 | 39 |
| 39 | Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metro Div. | 56.4 | 1,182.7 | 2 | 41 |
| 40 | Richmond, VA | 50.7 | 638.1 | 2 | 42 |
| 41 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | 49.8 | 1,047.8 | 5 | 46 |
| 42 | Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA | 47.3 | 486.6 | -2 | 40 |
| 43 | New Orleans-Metairie, LA | 46.7 | 566.2 | -17 | 26 |
| 44 | Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL Metro Div. | 46.7 | 3,597.7 | 3 | 47 |
| 45 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 44.9 | 467.2 | -15 | 30 |
| 46 | Kansas City, MO | 42.7 | 571.7 | 15 | 61 |
| 47 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Div. | 41.5 | 2,560.7 | -9 | 38 |
| 48 | Philadelphia City, PA | 41.0 | 684.3 | 3 | 51 |
| 49 | Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY Metro Div. | 39.9 | 1,292.3 | -5 | 44 |
| 50 | Northern Virginia, VA | 38.1 | 1,388.0 | -15 | 35 |
| 51 | Middlesex-Monmouth-Ocean, NJ | 38.1 | 845.9 | ||
| 52 | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT NECTA | 35.7 | 571.3 | -4 | 48 |
| 53 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 35.7 | 457.2 | 4 | 57 |
| 54 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | 33.1 | 845.7 | 0 | 54 |
| 55 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 32.2 | 516.4 | -5 | 50 |
| 56 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA | 32.1 | 568.7 | -1 | 55 |
| 57 | Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, PA Metro Div. | 31.5 | 1,024.8 | ||
| 58 | Pittsburgh, PA | 30.7 | 1,164.6 | -6 | 52 |
| 59 | Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI Metro Div. | 30.2 | 734.4 | 6 | 65 |
| 60 | Orange-Rockland-Westchester, NY | 29.9 | 688.8 | ||
| 61 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | 29.5 | 622.5 | 3 | 64 |
| 62 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY | 27.9 | 556.7 | -6 | 56 |
| 63 | Rochester, NY | 27.4 | 527.8 | -6 | 57 |
| 64 | Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville, MD Metro Div. | 26.9 | 576.2 | -15 | 49 |
| 65 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 24.1 | 1,314.3 | -6 | 59 |
| 66 | Cleveland-Elyria, OH | 24.0 | 1,038.2 | -4 | 62 |
| 67 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | 22.7 | 753.9 | -9 | 58 |
| 68 | Bergen-Hudson-Passaic, NJ | 22.5 | 895.1 | -15 | 53 |
| 69 | Newark, NJ-PA Metro Div. | 21.7 | 1,188.1 | -9 | 60 |
| 70 | Camden, NJ Metro Div. | 15.5 | 515.3 | -4 | 66 |
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