Detroit job growth puts it among 20 ‘superstar’ cities in U.S.

Detroit is regularly said to be in the midst of a “revival.” Certainly there have been plenty of buildings undergoing construction, businesses opening, and changes to the city’s infrastructure. But how else to quantify it?

Using federal data, Reuters analyzed 378 metropolitan areas in the United States from 2010 to 2017 and found that Detroit was among the top 20 cities to experience significant job growth. It was one of only two from the Rust Belt, the other being Grand Rapids.

The analysis found that nearly 40 percent of all new jobs generated in the U.S. went to the top 20 metro areas. A significant drop-off takes place from there—the next 20 only accounted for 10 percent of new jobs.

Metro Detroit came in at number 10, accounting for 1.73 percent of job growth. Los Angeles-Anaheim at 4.79 percent was the area with the highest percentage of total job growth.

The article also wonders if the top metro areas are taking jobs away from others, which are located mostly in the heartland and industrial northeast. “The superstar cities have pulled so far away,” MIT economist Simon Johnson told Reuters.

These numbers also correlate highly to results from the 2016 election:

Of 221 counties that voted for President Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016, only three are in the metropolitan areas that won the most job share. Sixty-two are part of metro areas where the share of national employment declined.