Certain cities across the United States are emerging as economic powerhouses, creating ideal conditions for real estate investors.
I’ve published two previous articles on cities with growing tech hubs and high income increases, both of which are highly correlated with price appreciation. Just take a look at the relationship between income and price growth for the top 100 metropolitan areas:
Now, for the third installment in this series, I’ve decided to filter and rank each city’s economy as a whole, under the assumption that the stronger a city’s economy is, the more likely wages will rise, and with them, real estate prices.
I’ve analyzed the data, crunched the numbers, and identified 13 cities with the strongest economies that should be ripe with investment opportunities. Read on to discover where you should be looking next to maximize your returns in 2024.
How I Calculated the Top 13 Cities
First, I downloaded employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). I also included population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Finally, I retrieved GDP-per-MSA data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Next, I calculated one- and five-year growth for population, total employment, and wages for each market. I also used the population data to help create GDP-per-capita data for each city.
Then, I filtered out all cities that had population, employment, or wage decline over the past year. The most robust economies shouldn’t be…