While the US economy has enjoyed steady job growth in recent years, some cities are capturing a larger share of total job creation than others, largely attributable to factors unique to their local economies. Dallas most exceeded job growth expectations between 2014 and 2015, according to research released today by CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists International. Chicago fell the most short in terms of the number of jobs it was expected to add.                 

The research examined the total job growth across industries for each of the 150 most populous US metros from 2014 to 2015. Each metro’s actual job growth was then compared to what would have been expected for that metro based on national job growth trends during that same time period. The difference between the two measurements is the competitive effect, i.e., how much the metro is exceeding, matching or falling behind national job growth trends because of something unique to that metro’s regional economy.

The 10 most competitive metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs):

The top 10 least competitive metros: