Economic excellence

Dallas-Fort Worth economy declared one of the U.S.' most dynamic

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is one of the most dynamic metro areas in the country.

A new report hails Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington as one of the most economically dynamic metro areas in the country.

The report, published by the nonprofit Walton Family Foundation (yes, the Waltons of Walmart), ranks Dallas as the 27th most dynamic metro area in the United States and puts it at No. 6 among major metro areas.

Researchers graded each U.S. metro area, large and small, based on performance-related metrics in categories such as job growth, economic growth, and income growth. In DFW's case, the researchers were particularly struck by the region's creation of jobs " at a prodigious pace," pointing to its 116,400 new jobs in 2018 alone.

"It is a remarkable accomplishment for a metro the size of Dallas to grow at such a rapid rate," the report proclaims. "The blended recipe for economic success leans heavily on company recruitment as it takes advantage of its attractive business climate with lower regulatory burdens and costs, along with its central location and excellent airline connections."

DFW is a home to major employers in the financial services, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries: AT&T, Verizon, Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung Telecommunications America; American Airlines and Southwest; and Texas Instruments, to name a few.

The region also has the University of Texas-Dallas to thank for supplying "much of the local engineering talent," Raytheon brings diversity, Lockheed offers a "gearing up operations for its F-35 Joint Strike Force program," and the Metroplex is "a logistics hub and a key location for international trade," the report adds.

Overall, the report found that knowledge-based economies fare better than metro areas lacking much-needed investments in tech, education, entrepreneurship, and commercialization.

“The data show that a knowledge-based economy is key to unlocking economic potential in metropolitan areas across the United States,” Ross DeVol, the report’s lead researcher, says in a release. “Cities making investments in a knowledge-based economy have performed better economically than those that have not.”

Somewhat surprisingly, the oil-rich metro area of Midland, Texas, tops the ranking, largely thanks to the region’s explosive economic and population growth.

“Besides oil, ranching, agriculture, healthcare and transportation remain economic pillars; however, focused efforts on diversifying its economy are underway in Midland,” the report says.

Austin ranks the seventh most dynamic metro area in the U.S. and second among major metro areas (behind Silicon Valley but ahead of huge economic hot spots like San Francisco and Seattle).

Neither Houston nor San Antonio appears in the ranking.

rankings lists

Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

You have a better chance of landing a job in Texas than in most other states.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

job market texas wallethub jobs

Economic excellence

Dallas-Fort Worth economy declared one of the U.S.' most dynamic

Colorado sandwich chain Snarf's makes Dallas debut with 5 locations

Crazy wave of Dallas restaurants and bars have all just opened

Prominent Dallas businessman and sports mogul Tom Hicks dies at 79

Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report