Local Economy Grows
North Texas slams the competition in the Texas economy
The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University put together a monthly report on the state of the Texas economy, and the news for locals is good: Of the 26 metropolitan areas studied, two of the most prosperous are in North Texas.
The Dallas-Plano-Irving area ranked second in job creation, with a 4 percent increase in employment since last year.
Fort Worth-Arlington also made the list, coming in seventh with a 2.7 percent increase in employment since last year. That puts it higher than the Texas average of 2.4 percent, and much higher than the 2.1 percent national average.
"The correlation between the Dallas economy and the U.S. economy is very high, and the main reason is because Dallas is a transportation hub and all the goods and services that pass in the state use Dallas transportation systems," said Real Estate Center research economist Ali Anari in the report.
Austin-Round Rock and San Antonio-New Braunfels also score well. But nearly all of the 26 metro areas included in the study saw more jobs than this time last year, and unemployment rates for North Texas are well below the state's 4.4 percent average. Leisure and hospitality lead the charge in job growth, followed by education and health services, then business.
"The rate of growth is slowing for [energy-based] areas, but for Dallas, it is still growing and not declining," Real Estate Center director Gary Maler said. "There’s a positive outlook for this region because of all the companies moving their offices there, like Toyota."
