{"id":1104,"date":"2026-06-03T14:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T14:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2026-06-03T14:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T14:16:06","slug":"california-has-4-of-the-fastest-growing-us-job-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1104","title":{"rendered":"California has 4 of the fastest growing US job markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><iframe allow=\"geolocation\" allowfullscreen=\"yes\" allowtransparency=\"1\" class=\"iframe\" height=\"550px\" id=\"6a2034f98b86b\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29162948\/embed\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One way to gauge California\u2019s relatively solid employment picture in early 2026 is to note that four of the country\u2019s fastest-growing job markets are here.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1102\">Los Gatos celebrates first raising of Pride flag<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My trusty spreadsheet looked at the one-year employment change through 2026\u2019s first quarter across the nation\u2019s 100 metropolitan areas with the largest job markets to see who\u2019s boosting staffing \u2013 and who\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p>Stockton had the fastest job growth in California, with 2.1% more jobs over the past year. This was the second-highest growth rate in the country, just behind Fayetteville, Arkansas, at 2.4%.<\/p>\n<p>Stockton employers added 6,000 workers over 12 months, the 19th largest gain among the 100 metros. This brought the metro\u2019s total employment to 288,700, ranking 92nd.<\/p>\n<p>Only one of California\u2019s 10 largest metros lost jobs: Ventura County, down 0.3% over the year, ranked 74th out of 100.<\/p>\n<p>The loss of 1,100 jobs ranked 66th, bringing Ventura County\u2019s total employment to 317,700 \u2013 the 79th largest among the metros.<\/p>\n<p>Want another sign of U.S. job weakness? Employment fell in 44 of the nation\u2019s 100 employment hubs, with the largest drop in Washington, D.C., at 3.1%.<\/p>\n<h4>Also Top 10<\/h4>\n<p>Here are the other major California job markets that ranked among the 10 fastest-growing this year:<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2013 San Jose: Its 1.4% increase ranked sixth. The addition of 16,700 jobs (also sixth) brought total employment to 1.17 million (33rd largest).<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1100\">What to watch: Creepy \u2018Cape Fear\u2019 back to rattle us again<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Fresno: 1.3% increase ranks No. 8 \u2013 6,000 gain (No. 19) to 448,600 (No. 59).<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Bakersfield: 1.3% increase ranks No. 9 \u2013 3,900 gain (No. 30) to 303,000 (No. 85).<\/p>\n<h4>Elsewhere<\/h4>\n<p>Here\u2019s how other large California job markets performed over the past year, ranked by percentage growth:<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2013 Sacramento: Its 0.7% increase ranked 26th among the 100 metros. The gain of 7,900 jobs (14th) brought total employment to 1.1 million (35th largest).<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Inland Empire: 0.7% increase ranks No. 27 \u2013 12,100 gain (No. 9) to 1,725,600 (No. 16).<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 San Diego: 0.6% increase ranks No. 31 \u2013 9,000 gain (No. 12) to 1,574,900 (No. 18).<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Los Angeles-Orange County: 0.3% increase ranks No. 42 \u2013 20,000 gain (No. 3) to 6,299,200 (No. 2).<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 San Francisco 0.3% increase ranks No. 44. \u2013 7,200 gain (No. 15) to 2,428,500 (No. 12).<\/p>\n<p><em>Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1098\">Review: \u2018Masters of the Universe\u2019 needs to take itself less seriously<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Employment fell in 44 of the nation&#8217;s 100 employment hubs, with the largest drop in Washington, D.C., at 3.1%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>California has 4 of the fastest growing US job markets - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1104\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California has 4 of the fastest growing US job markets - 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