The manufacturing industry has created nearly 500,000 new jobs in the last 6 years, but some places have experienced better job growth than others. Headlight Data has just released its annual rankings of the fastest-growing US counties in manufacturing.
Recently released data show that manufacturing job creation in 2016 across counties in the US varied from a high of 3,600 in Jefferson County, KY to a loss of 19,000 jobs in Harris County, TX.
Out of more than 2,700 counties with Manufacturing economies, the Top 5 job creators also included Fulton County-GA (3,400), Dallas County-TX (3,200), Alameda County-CA (3,000), and San Diego County, CA (2,500).
Manufacturing job losses were also led by Travis County-TX (-3,000), Fairfield County-CT (-2,500), Erie County-PA (-2,300) and Cuyahoga County-OH (-2,200).
Overall in the U.S., the Manufacturing Sector created 4,000 net new jobs in 2016.
Within the US, several counties stood out in their ability to attract the most jobs in manufacturing industries:
- Anderson County, TN (Knoxville metro): #1 job creator in Fabricated Metal Products
- Will County, IL (Chicago metro): #1 job creator in Plastics
- Fulton County, GA (Atlanta metro): #1 job creator in Beverages and Electrical Equipment
- Jefferson County, KY (Louisville metro): #1 job creator in Transportation Equipment and Manufacturing overall
- Los Angeles, CA: #1 job creator in Food and Computers/Electronics
- Alameda County, CA (San Francisco metro): #1 job creator in Machinery
More information and an interactive map are at Headlight Data.
