Job Growth: 12.26 percent
Jobs Gained: 12,693
Rochester is known for being home to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, which employs 30,000 people. The second-largest employer in the city is IBM, employing more than 4,000 people. With the pace of growth in the health and technology sectors not likely to slow any time soon, it’s obvious why Rochester tops our list.
Job Growth: 12.07 percent
Jobs Gained: 261,465
Tons of jobs were created with the launch of the Department of Homeland Security and two wars, and growth in federal jobs continued through the recession. Defense contractors, nonprofits, law firms, and lobbyists, naturally, piggyback on the city’s main industry. With so many companies expanding, office space in Washington is now even more
expensive than in Manhattan.
Job Growth: 11.82 percent
Jobs Gained: 32,968
Part of North Carolina’s Research Triangle, Durham is home to four institutions of higher learning, including Duke University. The city has six hospitals and the largest research park in the world, plus it’s in commuting distance to state government jobs in Raleigh. Many residents work in health and science.
Job Growth: 11.67 percent
Jobs Gained: 66,276
Bethesda benefits from its proximity to Washington and is host to several government contractors, including Lockheed Martin. A large concentration of highly educated workers live there—according to the 2000
Census, 79 percent of residents 25 or older had bachelor’s degrees, and nearly half had graduate or professional degrees.
Job Growth: 11.65 percent
Jobs Gained: 19,145
Tallahassee is a big college town, home of Florida A&M and Florida State University and several other schools. Government is a big employer, but many residents work in education, printing and publishing, and technology sectors.
Job Growth: 11.62 percent
Jobs Gained: 26,024
In 1917, Trenton adopted the motto “Trenton Makes, The World Takes,” to showcase its pride in the city’s manufacturing sector. The city’s economy has changed a lot since then. As the capital of New Jersey, government is the largest employer in the city. It’s close to New York City by train but a lot cheaper, so Trenton benefits from
spillover from high-technology industries.
Job Growth: 11.52 percent
Jobs Gained: 11,186
Charlottesville weathered the recession better than most, thanks to giant government employers (the National Ground Intelligence Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency), education (the University of Virginia), and health care (the massive Martha Jefferson Hospital). Those employers keep the economy fairly
stable, as does patriotic tourism: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello brings in half a million tourists every year.
Job Growth: 11.51 percent
Jobs Gained: 11,085
Olympia combines college town and state capital. The area has worked hard to bring in a few small technology firms, and tourism helps boost the economy. State government is the second-largest employer in the area, and plastics and machinery manufacturing are still key
industries.
Job Growth: 11.50 percent
Jobs Gained: 12,391
The University of Florida is a major employer in Gainesville, as is the Shands Healthcare system and the city government. Nationwide Insurance, engineering and construction company CH2MHill, and software maker Info Tech also
employ many people there. And hey—there’s no state income tax.
Job Growth: 11.37 percent
Jobs Gained: 5,697
Cornell University is a major economic
anchor in Ithaca. It has a growing reputation as a “green city,” and key areas of growth are high-technology, biotech, and electronics. Manufacturing is still important.
Job Growth: 11.43 percent
Jobs Gained: 18,633
Science and technology dominate the job market in Boulder, with major employers including IBM, the University of Colorado, Sun Microsystems, Electronic Data Systems, Storage Technology Corp., Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp, the National Institute of Standards, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Job Growth: 11.26 percent
Jobs Gained: 14,208
Manufacturing and mills are a major part of Duluth’s economy, and the city is a huge transportation hub for manufacturing materials. But health care and education are major employers, too.
Job Growth: 11.23 percent
Jobs Gained: 13,831
Brownsville has growing health and education sectors, with top employers being the local public schools and the University of Texas at Brownsville.
Job Growth: 11.21 percent
Jobs Gained: 26,170
The Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metropolitan area has big health-care, food-service, and education sectors. Perhaps not surprisingly, Marist, Vassar, and the Culinary Institute of America are all located there, and IBM has a large campus in Poughkeepsie, too.
Job Growth: 11.21 percent
Jobs Gained: 578,974
No surprise that America’s largest city and its financial center makes the list. When the greater New York metro area is counted, then there are a lot of jobs to be had in the next few years. In White Plains alone, Starwood Hotels, Allegiance Financial, Nokia, and Heineken USA are among many the companies based in the area.
Job Growth: 11.20 percent
Jobs Gained: 3,689
Corvallis is a college town—Oregon State University is located there—and the city’s job figures are proof: About a quarter of the job force works in education. Home to a massive Hewlett-Packard plant, the tech and health industries hold sway there, too.
Job Growth: 11.16 percent
Jobs Gained: 16,267
Entertainment, food services, and hotels: This is what Atlantic City, the East Coast’s mini version of Vegas, is all about. And it’s still growing—with Donald Trump, one of the city’s leading casino operators, churning the economy accordingly.
Job Growth: 11.15 percent
Jobs Gained: 24,401
Real estate and education are the primary breadwinners of McAllen’s economy. Home to the University of Texas-Pan American campus and South Texas College, about 37,000 students are in the area, which means plenty of teaching jobs. As for housing,
Forbes recently listed McAllen as one of the strongest real-estate markets in the U.S.
Job Growth: 11.15 percent
Jobs Gained: 186,457
Boston is renowned for its top-notch scientific research centers, hospitals, and universities (Harvard, MIT, etc.). So—no surprise—that’s where the city’s job base lies. Boston is home to major corporate headquarters, too, Liberty Mutual, New Balance, and Gillette among them.
Job Growth: 11.12 percent
Jobs Gained: 11,848
Government jobs make up Springfield, with the state of Illinois footing the bill for the majority of the city’s workforce. There’s also plenty of tourism, mostly related to Abraham Lincoln, who started his political career in the city and lived there for 24 years. Also:
world-famous chili.
