December Jobs: Annual Gains Continue Slowing for Top Metros
Employment gains at the metro level appear to be leveling out based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The combined total for jobs gained in 2024 among the top 10 of RealPage’s top 150 markets decreased by 40,600 jobs from 2023 (totaling 470,600 as of December 2024). However, December’s total was 20,500 jobs greater than their combined 12-month total from November, indicating some seasonal gain in the not seasonally adjusted data.
New York’s dominance nationally for employment gains continued in December with 104,700 jobs added to local payrolls in 2024.
The first eight of December’s top 10 list returned from November but a few changed places. Houston retained the #2 spot while Dallas and Los Angeles traded places at #3 and #4. Phoenix fell from #5 in November to #8 this month, allowing Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Charlotte to move up one spot each on December’s top 10 list.
Salt Lake City and Atlanta joined the top 10 this month with Atlanta jumping from #30 in November to #10 with strong employment improvement in several industries, particularly in trade, transportation and warehousing and information.
The next 10 markets (#11-#20) of RealPage’s top job gain markets saw their total gains increase 4.9% to total 229,100 new jobs, less than half the total for the top 10 markets.
Like last month, only New York exceeded 100,000 jobs gained for the year and only one gained between 50,000 and 99,999 jobs (Houston). Thirteen of our top 150 markets reported annual job losses for the year, one more than last month. Major markets reporting annual job losses include Columbus, OH, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago and Memphis.
Job Growth
Unlike the top job gain markets, which tend to be large in population and employment, smaller markets usually dominate the top markets for annual percentage change in employment. Stockton and Boise returned to the top two spots in December with job growth of 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively. Champaign-Urbana, IL, Richmond and Salt Lake City each had growth in the 3% to 3.7% range, while the remainder of the top 10 were close to 2.8%.
With the exceptions of Salt Lake City and Charlotte, these top growth markets are relatively small. Only six of last month’s top employment growth markets returned in December.
Outside of the top 10 growth markets, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio and Pittsburgh were major markets that had job growth rates of 2% or greater. Meanwhile, Youngstown, OH, Grand Rapids, MI, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, MI, Sioux Falls, SD, Akron, OH, Asheville, NC, and Des Moines, IA joined the aforementioned major markets with declining employment through December.
This post is part of a series by RealPage Senior Real Estate Economist Chuck Ehmann analyzing employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For more on this data, read previous posts on Job Growth.
