The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a dataset called LODES – the “LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics” – which shows the locations of jobs and workers in each of twenty main industry sectors across the country. We’ve analyzed this data to find the top cities across the country for each sector: that is, cities where jobs in that sector make up the largest share of all jobs.

See the top three cities for each industry below – some of them may surprise you!

Open all the maps for this post in a Metopio project.

 Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting

As the breadbasket for the country, California’s cities top the list for the percent of jobs that are related to agriculture.

  1. Salinas, CA: 28.4% of all jobs. The “Salad Bowl of the World”, this is home to Taylor Farms, Tanimura & Antle, Mann Packing, Hilltown Packing, Newstar Fresh Foods, and Matsui Nursery.
  2. Santa Maria, CA: Windset Farms and Agro-Jal Farms.
  3. Bakersfield, CA: The Giumarra Companies, Grimmway Farms, and Bolthouse Farms.

 Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction

  1. Midland, TX: 25.9% of all jobs. Warren Equipment Companies, Baker Hughes, and Dawson Geophysical
  2. Odessa, TX: Halliburton, Saulsbury Companies, Keane Group, and Weatherford
  3. Avondale, AZ

Construction

  1. Suffolk, VA: 30.2% of all jobs.
  2. Edmond, OK
  3. Norman, OK (York International/Johnson Controls/Hitachi)

 Manufacturing

  1. Augusta, GA: 30.9% of all jobs. (Textron/Graphic Packaging/Ferrara Candy/Morgan Materials/Nutrien)
  2. Sioux City, IA (Tyson/Seabord Foods)
  3. Memphis, TN (international paper/mueller industries/barnhart crane/varsity brands/allenburg cotton/Cargill cotton)

 Wholesale trade

  1. Clarksville, TN: 14.5% of all jobs. (Amazon Distribution, Bridestone)
  2. Plymouth, MN (Select Comfort, Medtronic)
  3. Athens-Clarke County, GA

 Retail trade

  1. Allen, TX: 29.1% (Allen Premium Outlets, Watters Creek, and The Village at Allen)
  2. Yonkers, NY
  3. Deltona, FL

 Transportation and warehousing

  1. Elizabeth, NJ: 30.9% of all jobs. (Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal)
  2. Laredo, TX (Laredo Port of Entry)
  3. Newark, NJ (Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal)

 Utilities

  1. Alexandria, VA: 20.8% of all jobs.
  2. Wilmington, DE
  3. Folsom, CA

 Information

  1. Burbank, CA: 17.4% of all jobs. (Warner Bros, Disney, Deluxe Entertainment, ABC, Nickelodeon)
  2. Redwood City, CA (EA, GoFundMe, Oracle, Evernote)
  3. Mountain View, CA (Google, Intuit, Linkedin, Microsoft, Waymo)

 Finance and insurance

  1. Jersey City, NJ: 18.9% of all jobs. (Jersey City’s Hudson River waterfront, from Exchange Place to Newport, is known as Wall Street West)
  2. New Orleans, LA
  3. Sandy Springs, GA

 Real estate and rental and leasing

  1. Scottsdale, AZ: 8.2% of all jobs.
  2. Plantation (Broward County), FL
  3. Washington, DC

 Professional, scientific, and technical services

  1. Columbus, GA: 25.3% of all jobs. (Fort Benning, TSYS, Aflac)
  2. Cambridge, MA (Harvard, MIT, Takeda, Biogen: is this any surprise?)
  3. Boulder, CO

 Management

  1. New Orleans, LA: 13.3% of all jobs. Also home to a large number of finance and insurance jobs
  2. Brooklyn Park, MN
  3. Stamford, CT (Charter Spectrum, Indeed, Gartner, Deloitte: now this is probably the least surprising one)

 Administrative and waste managements

  1. El Paso, TX: 23.8% of all jobs.
  2. Peoria, AZ
  3. Palm Coast, FL

 Educational

  1. Vallejo, CA: 26.2% of all jobs.
  2. Iowa City, IA (University of Iowa)
  3. Hesperia, CA

 Health care and social assistance

  1. Union City, CA: 57% of all jobs.
  2. Los Angeles, CA
  3. Lynn, MA

 Arts, entertainment, and recreation

  1. Scottsdale, AZ: 16.3% of all jobs.
  2. Miami Gardens, FL (Miami Dolphins)
  3. Burlington, VT

 Accommodation and food services

  1. Miami Beach, FL: 26% of all jobs.
  2. Alexandria, VA
  3. Newport Beach, CA

 Public Administration

  1. Chino, CA: 16.1% of all jobs.
  2. Charleston, WV
  3. Springfield, IL

What about the other cities?

Many cities do not appear on this list because they host a variety of industry sectors. The largest city not to appear, Chicago, is home to many companies and jobs, but from many different parts of the economy.

Check out our national maps of all of these sectors here. What other insights do you see?

Methodology

Using 2018 LODES data on Metopio, we ranked the 507 largest cities in the country by the percentage of all jobs in each city that belonged to a given sector. This analysis includes all cities with 65,000+ residents. With a Metopio license, you can conduct this analysis yourself in minutes (maps included), or compare places along 800 other topics from our Curated Data Library.