AUSTIN, Texas — Austin has one of the hottest job markets in the country, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
In the latest annual rankings released on Monday, Austin ranked No. 7 overall, tied with Nashville, Tennessee. About 380 metro areas were included in the rankings, done in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Austin has the highest labor force participation rate in the country, but it ranked lower for wages and unemployment. Austin was the highest-ranked Texas city on the list.
The top three cities were Salt Lake City, Utah; Jacksonville, Florida; and Orlando, Florida.
The Mountain West and Sunbelt cities bucked the trend in a year of layoffs in the tech industry, the Wall Street Journal reported. It said the top cities offer workers plentiful job opportunities, wage growth, affordability and recreational options.
Rankings are based on five factors, including the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate, changes to employment levels, the size of the labor force and wages. Larger areas with more than 1 million residents were ranked separately from smaller areas.
Many of the top-ranked cities were positioned as “affordable alternatives to the traditional tech and financial hubs,” the report said.
To read the full report, visit the Wall Street Journal's website.
Boomtown is KVUE's series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.