Hottest U.S. Job Markets Report: Seattle Area Makes Gains

The job market in Puget Sound is among the hottest in the United States, according to a new ranking by the Wall Street Journal. The 2020 ranking, which analyzed the labor market in more than 400 cities and metropolitan areas, scored the Seattle area and others based on factors such as job and wage growth.

The Wall Street Journal teamed up with Moody Analytics to evaluate data from the last year and sort the rankings into two lists — one for metro areas with more than 1 million people, and another for less-populous areas.

According to the list, cities were ranked on five metrics — unemployment rate, labor-force participation rate, job growth, labor force growth and wage growth — to determine an overall ranking.

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro tied for 4th among metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people. Last year, we ranked 8th overall.

Our region also was ranked in the following areas:

• Unemployment: 3.6% (29th)
• Labor force participation: 67.8% (14th)
• Job growth: 2.8% (4th)
• Labor force growth: 2.4% (6th)
• Wage growth: 5.4% (2nd)

Austin, Texas, topped the list for the second consecutive year. Nashville, Tennessee, moved to the No. 2 spot from seventh in 2019. Both cities anchor metropolitan areas of around 2 million people.

Denver moved up in the ranks to third place from ninth in 2019. Seattle and San Francisco also moved up to round out the top five large metropolitan areas.

In areas with fewer than 1 million people, Boulder, Colorado, moved to No. 1, a significant jump from last year’s 20th place ranking. Midland, Texas, came in at No. 2.