If you’re looking for the perfect place to find a job, start a business or grow your salary, consider one of America’s thriving “boomtowns”: cities where rapid economic growth is creating jobs and attracting new residents.
Financial advice website SmartAsset analyzed data for the 500 largest U.S. cities to determine the top “boomtowns” in the country. The site considered seven metrics in its ranking: population change, unemployment rate, number of jobs created, GDP growth rate, business growth rate, housing growth and change in household income.
To compile the list, SmartAsset used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 and 2018 1-year American Community Surveys, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns Survey.
Southern cities dominated the ranking, including several places in Texas and South Carolina. Although all of the locations on the list are considered “boomtowns,” SmartAsset found that a few places are growing at a quicker clip than others. In Greeley, Colorado, the population grew twice as fast as the average of the rest of the cities in the study. New Braunfels, Texas, added 41% more housing units between 2014 and 2018, allowing the population to increase by 30%. And Round Rock, Texas, increased its number of businesses by more than 20%.
Below, check out the top 10 cities where both populations and salaries are rising and jobs are plentiful.
10. Round Rock, Texas
- Population change 2014-2018: 14.52%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 18.57%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 13.96%
9. North Charleston, South Carolina
- Population change 2014-2018: 10.41%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 9.36%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 21.71%
8. Charleston, South Carolina
- Population change 2014-2018: 7.91%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 11.51%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 25.13%
Guides lead tourists through streets on a horse drawn buggy in the historic 19th-century downtown Charleston, South Carolina on April 24, 2019.
Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images
7. Denver, Colorado
- Population change 2014-2018: 7.93%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 10.71%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 24.46%
6. New Braunfels, Texas
- Population change 2014-2018: 30.21%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 41.47%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 16.6%
5. Greeley, Colorado
- Population change 2014-2018: 8.88%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 14.63%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 18.81%
4. Miami, Florida
- Population change 2014-2018: 9.43%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 10.11%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 31.02%
Miami, Florida.
Jeff Greenberg | Getty Images
3. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
- Population change 2014-2018: 14.85%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 16.28%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 23.94%
2. Denton, Texas
- Population change 2014-2018: 8.08%
- Housing growth 2014-2018: 13.42%
- Household income growth 2014-2018: 36.21%
