
It's not just booming in the big cities. Thanks to big-city problems and accessible, fast Internet, job-growth in small towns are moving at a torrential rate.
BizJournal explains it this way:
"A lot of people and businesses want to be located in small towns. And for a long time, they really couldn't do that. They had to be close to where the action was," says Larry Swanson, director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.
The Internet has helped make smaller towns more accessible, while California's problems have made them more desirable, Swanson says.
"Population began spilling into the Interior West in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and what triggered the change was that the California economy wasn't working," he says. "California had always been the magnet drawing people to the West. When its magnetism dropped off, people started looking elsewhere."
Here's the numbers:
Job-market rankings of metro areas
with less than 50,000 jobs
| 1. St. George, UT | 19. Hanford, CA | 36. Goldsboro, NC |
| 2. Casper, WY | 20. Ames, IA | 37. Rome, GA |
| 3. Hot Springs, AR | 21. Lawton, OK | 38. Madera, CA |
| 4. Mount Vernon, WA | 22. Steubenville, OH | 39. Anderson, IN |
| 5. Wenatchee, WA | 23. Farmington, NM | 40. Kokomo, IN |
| 6. Punta Gorda, FL | 24. Yuba City, CA | 41. Monroe, MI |
| 7. Carson City, NV | 25. Jonesboro, AR | 42. Kankakee, IL |
| 8. Sherman, TX | 26. Pittsfield, MA | 43. Elmira, NY |
| 9. Pocatello, ID | 27. Lewiston, ME | 44. Cumberland, MD |
| 10. San Angelo, TX | 28. Vero Beach, FL | 45. Sandusky, OH |
| 11. Cheyenne, WY | 29. Pine Bluff, AR | 46. El Centro, CA |
| 12. Victoria, TX | 30. Jacksonville, NC | 47. Elizabethtown, KY |
| 13. Lewiston, ID | 31. Brunswick, GA | 48. Hinesville, GA |
| 14. Great Falls, MT | 32. Michigan City-La Porte, IN | 49. Cleveland, TN |
| 15. Fairbanks, AK | 33. Danville, IL | 50. Bay City, MI |
| 16. Lebanon, PA | 34. Columbus, IN | 51. Sumter, SC |
| 17. Longview, WA | 35. Corvallis, OR | 52. Danville, VA |
| 18. Gadsden, AL |








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