Houston held onto its No. 5 spot on Forbes’ latest listing of the best cities for jobs.

To compile its “Best Big Cities for Jobs 2014” list, Forbes ranked all 398 metropolitan statistical areas using Bureau of Labor Statistics data from November 2002 through January 2014. The big cities list is composed of the 66 MSAs that each have more than 450,000 jobs.

The ranking is based on five factors: recent (current and prior years’) employment growth, mid-term growth (average annual 2008-2013 growth rate), long-term trend and momentum, current year growth and the average of each year’s growth rate for the past 10 years.

The Houston area recorded 2.83 million jobs and growth of 3 percent in 2013. Its growth rate from 2008 to 2013 was 8.4 percent. It also held the No. 5 position on the 2013 list, down from No. 2 on the 2012 list.

The tech meccas of Silicon Valley and San Francisco snagged the top two spots. Just four years ago, they ranked 47th and 42nd, respectively.

Meanwhile, Austin jumped from No. 10 last year back up to No. 3 this year. It had been at No. 1 in 2012.

The Dallas metropolitan division slipped from No. 6 last year to No. 9, and the Fort Worth metropolitan division dropped from No. 4 last year to No. 11. San Antonio came in at No. 12.

Although the big Texas cities are generally safe bets for job creation, Forbes notes that if the economy weakens, a resulting dip in energy prices could hurt the region.

Categorised in: Houston News, Sandcastle News, Uncategorized

This post was written by Sandcastle Homes