One of the most interesting categories of information that we track is job growth in individual markets.  It almost goes without saying that job growth is an extraordinarily critical contributor to creation of housing demand in a market, and therefore is of paramount interest to both multifamily and single family investors. 

As noted in previous posts and in our newsletters, we used data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and various other regional and (few) local sources to track this information for the markets our team follows.  Data reported here is the annualized nonfarm employment growth reported for each market; note that we’ve again utilized a 6-month rolling average of the available information so as to smooth out the inevitable anomalous data that creeps into the system. 

We have a much larger list published every month in our newsletter (The Emerging Market Report), and offer a free list of state by state total nonfarm employment growth update monthly on our Free Resources page. 

Now, back to the matter at hand – despite what you hear from the media every day about the terrible economy, there are still markets out there creating jobs at an impressive pace.  Note that the average for this data category in our database is 1.3%, the median 1.2%.

Here are the top five total nonfarm employment growth markets in our database as of today:

1.  KRP, WA                            5.3%
2.  Grand Junction, CO         5.0%
3.  Coeur d’Alene, ID            4.9%
4.  Odessa, TX                       4.7%
5.  Jacksonville, NC              4.4%

Tomorrow we’ll take at look at the market with the highest unemployment rates in the country. 

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