Texas is back on top again. After a few years of shale oil-fueled growth propelling other Western states past Texas in terms of economic growth, the 2015 oil bust has led to the Lone Star State moving back to the top of the growth list again.
A new report from demographic research firm WalletHub highlights that Texas, especially Central Texas, is clearly the economic growth hub of the country right now.
The new study from WalletHub is looking to identify American cities that have grown the most economically and sociodemographically over the last five years. To accomplish this, WalletHub compared 515 U.S. cities of various sizes based on “Socio-Demographic Landscape” and “Jobs & Economic Environment” comprised of 10 metrics such as population growth, job growth and median house prices.
Texas on top in 2015
The WalletHub study makes it clear why Texas is currently an economic powerhouse. All of the top 10 cities on the 2015 WalletHub fastest-growing U.S. cities list are in Texas, in fact, 13 out of the top 15 fastest-growing cities are in the state. The only large city in the top 10 was Austin, the capital of the Lone Star State, which was ranked 9th on the list.
Five of the top five fastest growing large cities are also in Texas.
Top five U.S. cities with fastest-growing economies
Odessa, Texas came in first place on WalletHub’s 2015 fastest-growing cities list with a combined “Socio-Demographic Landscape” and “Jobs & Economic Environment” score of 79.54. Frisco, Texas was in second place with a combined score of 76.6. Midland, Texas (actually in West Texas) earned third place on this year’s fastest-growing cities list with a combined score of 74.98. Mission, Texas was ranked fourth on the list with a score of 73.11. College Station, Texas, home to the Texas A&M Aggies, was ranked fifth place on the fastest-growing cities list.
Bottom five U.S. cities with slowest-growing economies
The fifth slowest growing city in the U.S. (511th place on WalletHub’s list) is Detroit, Michigan with a combined score of 31.71. Sunrise Manor, Nevada in the fourth slowest growing city in the country (512th), with a combined score of 28.74. Westland, Michigan is third from the bottom on WalletHub’s list (513th), and has a combined score of 28.21. Historic Yuma, Arizona has seen the second-slowest growth of any city over the last five years (514th), with a combined score of 27.99. Carson, California comes in dead last on the list, with an anemic combined score of just 27.65.
