These Cities are Feeling Great!

2022 is starting to be the light at the end of the tunnel for many after the past two difficult years, and optimism is high for many cities across the nation. The top of this list is Greenville, S.C. From his window, mayor Knox White, can see the beginning of better times ahead.

“I can see three construction cranes,” Mayor White reports. In Greenville, new housing and office complexes are going up in a re-energized downtown. Just around round the corner, Greenville's street scene is bustling with outdoor dining at newly opened restaurants and brew pubs.

“We were strong before COVID,” White said in a phone interview. “But now the energy is palpable.” Companies making various goods from genetic-testing kits to refrigerated trucks are ramping up operations in the Greensville metro area; and mayors from other cities as far away as Grand Rapids, Mich., are visiting Greenville to see how it’s done.

Each year, LinkedIn’s big Workforce Confidence survey highlights the 10 U.S. metro areas where individuals’ overall optimism is running highest. This year, Greenville (plus nearby Spartanburg and Anderson, S.C.) are tied with Nashville for this year’s top spot.

Overall, this year southeastern metros are the stars, capturing seven of the top-10 spots. North Carolina has two standouts, while other southern states like Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida and Virginia each have one city in the top 10.

LinkedIn’s findings are based on surveys of 34,692 professionals from January 1 through March 31, 2022. In which their confidence is measured on a scale from a low of -100 to a high of +100.

At the top of this year’s list, the Nashville metro area (+51) is benefiting from a population influx of as many as 30,000 people a year. It’s also seeing big investments from companies the size of Amazon, as well as a robust and growing healthcare sector.

Greenville’s metro area, which includes nearby Spartanburg, has become a growing hub for the automotive industry. With Germany’s BMW company setting up manufacturing in that part of South Carolina decades ago and has continued to expand. Last month Argo AI, a maker of self-driving vehicles, announced a move into the Greenville/Spartanburg area, too.

“I just think we’re on the right path,” Spartanburg mayor Jerome Rice recently told local television station WSPA, citing not only the city’s economic development but also “what we’re trying to do with equity and inclusion in the city.”

Third-ranked Louisville benefits from a diverse economy that blends health care, manufacturing, retailing, finance, lodging, transportation and warehousing. That’s opening a lot of pathways for fresh college graduates; the University of Louisville recently reported that job postings are up 41% from year-earlier levels.

In fourth-ranked Miami-Fort Lauderdale, the metro unemployment rate shrunk to just 2.8% in March, well below the national average of 3.6%. Florida overall is enjoying a manufacturing boom, and Miami is enjoying a surprising rise to prominence as a financial center.

If one looks at metros showing the greatest leaps in confidence from 2021’s fourth quarter to this year’s first quarter, Greenville tops that list, with a 24-point rise (from +27 to +51). Rochester, N.Y. is second, climbing 14 points to +41.

At the other end of the spectrum, St. Louis (+31), the Richmond, Va., area (+34) and Philadelphia (+35) were the three metros with the lowest confidence levels. That’s still above the national averages for most of 2020 – in a sign that the pandemic-related gloom of recent times has largely abated.

If you are looking for a new opportunity in one of these cities, contact us at Visium Resources! We have offices, recruiters, and Clients throughout these high confidence cities ready to help you find your next amazing position.