50 Metro Areas 8 Indicators April 2026

U.S. Metro Economic Health

A composite economic health score for the 50 largest U.S. metros — ranking labor demand, unemployment, wage growth, cost of living, and housing into a single 0–100 grade.

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#1 Ranked Metro — April 2026
A+
Raleigh
Raleigh-Cary
71.7 composite score
STRONG
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50.9
Median Score
across 50 metros
33
A & B Grade Markets
healthy or above average
35
Growing Markets
STRONG or GROWING signal
50
Metros Scored
largest U.S. MSAs
▲ Top Performing Markets — April 2026
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#1 STRONG
Raleigh
A+ 71.7
#2 STRONG
Pittsburgh
A+ 71.5
#3 STRONG
Memphis
A+ 68.0
#4 STRONG
Nashville
A 67.7
#5 STRONG
Salt Lake City
A 64.5
#6 STRONG
Hartford
A 64.5
#7 STRONG
Birmingham
A 64.1
▼ Markets Under Pressure
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#50 WEAK
Portland
D 25.1
#49 GROWING
Orlando
C- 26.4
#48 SQUEEZE
Sacramento
C- 28.6
#47 WEAK
Washington DC
C- 28.7
#46 GROWING
Detroit
C- 31.0
#45 SQUEEZE
San Francisco
C- 31.1
#44 SQUEEZE
Baltimore
C- 31.9

Labor Market Signal Distribution

Each metro is classified by its labor market scenario — combining employment growth direction with weekly hours deviation from each city's own 12-month baseline. The signal captures what employment alone cannot: whether growth is genuine demand or a survivor squeeze.

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STRONG
22 metros
22
GROWING
13 metros
13
SQUEEZE
11 metros
11
WEAK
4 metros
4
N/A
0 metros
0

How the Score Works

A composite of 8 economic indicators, weighted by their signal quality and data timeliness.

8
Indicators, One Score
Labor demand, unemployment, wage growth, cost of living, labor force growth, building permits, days on market, and office economy — combined into a single weighted composite.
0–100
Percentile-Ranked
Every metric is scored as a percentile rank across all 50 metros simultaneously. A score of 75 means this city outperforms 75% of its peers on that measure. Immune to outliers and self-calibrating as conditions change.
85 / 15
Employment / Housing Split
85% of the score comes from employment metrics — the direct measure of labor market health. Housing gets 15%, capturing whether workers can afford to live where businesses need them.

Grade Distribution — 50 Metros

Grade thresholds →
10
A Tier
A+ / A / A-
20% of metros
23
B Tier
B+ / B / B-
46% of metros
16
C Tier
C+ / C / C-
32% of metros
1
D
D
2% of metros

Explore All 50 Metro Areas

Full rankings table with scores, grades, and key economic metrics for every metropolitan area.

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