Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The current booming cities are so far ahead at this point, I don't see the list of cities here booming like them. They would need a few things:
Diverse economy
Cool factor/Cosmopolitan
Heavy investment in tech
Business friendly policies
Transformational leadership
Competitive amenities such as good shopping, restaurants, entertainment, and possibly professional sports if lacking the previous.
What helps this list be competitive:
Lower cost of living
The city that on paper should have the best chance is Jacksonville.
Salt Lake has all of that except the lower cost of living. It's a surprisingly expensive city.
Of these, I think SLC and then Jax, both of which already have strong growth.
Richmond seems well positioned, but it hasn't really seen that take off yet.
Kind of a surprised to not see Raleigh on this list, but maybe OP considered it to already be booming.
Good choices there.
I was actually considering of adding Raleigh-Durham and Memphis to this list. But decided that Raleigh-Durham has sort of boomed for about a decade, on a lower key level. I am still on the fence about it though, because it could easily take off in the next couple of years.
As for Memphis, it has started to gain momentum since about 2017--with new development popping up and redevelopment--all over the city. But I was on the fence about it as well, and wanted to keep the choices to 5 total, and figured if people wanted to included it, they could select "Other City" and explain why in the comments.
Where is Boise? I might have chosen that over these.
Richmond could theoretically see some Northeast Corridor spillover, but it hasn't really shown significant growth over the last 20 years. Omaha is too remote, sorry.
Louisville is kind of like Richmond: it theoretically could grow, but will it? I don't see evidence that it is on that path. I do think it will continue to have some nice urban renaissance ala Cincinnati though. Jacksonville will keep chugging along but I don't think it will get explosive. Seattle, Austin, and Nashville all have a cool factor that Jacksonville does not.
That leaves SLC, which I'm probably most optimistic about. It has had pretty steady metro growth and has a better economy backing it than the other cities here. I still don't know if I see it exploding, though.
Frankly, I think Austin, Seattle, and Nashville likely outpace these cities in the 2020s just as they did in 2010s. The Austin metro grew by 50% in the 90s, 40% in the 2000s, and 30% in the 2010s. Even if that drops to 20% on the 2020s, that likely beats these cities.
Another city to watch is San Antonio. Its recent growth easily beats all the cities on this list and it has a lower cost of living than the other hot Texas markets.
Boise has been sort of a lower key "boom" over the past few years, also. But a few things I've heard and read the past year or so has led me to believe the city is starting to backlash over the development and growth of Boise--especially so many Californians transforming their city. But, maybe it is good to add to the list--we will see moving forward if it does continue to grow quickly.
Louisville was the city I was going to take off the list and swap out with Memphis. Louisville needs some stronger universities and a tech "incubator" environment, which it doesn't have a strong enough base yet--but we will see. It has a lot of underlying buzz about it that sounds promising, but has yet to take off.
Richmond is a capital city and sits in a terrific geographical location--similar to Raleigh. The poverty and crime has dragged it down, but the 2020s might be its decade to break out.
Salt Lake has all of that except the lower cost of living. It's a surprisingly expensive city.
Yeah but its location is bad. It also lacks the cool factor. As you mentioned, for the cost of living why not choose Denver? Kansas City is also competitive as well.
Boise has been sort of a lower key "boom" over the past few years, also. But a few things I've heard and read the past year or so has led me to believe the city is starting to backlash over the development and growth of Boise--especially so many Californians transforming their city. But, maybe it is good to add to the list--we will see moving forward if it does continue to grow quickly.
If there is enough "Californians" to cause a backlash, that sounds like a booming city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc
Louisville was the city I was going to take off the list and swap out with Memphis. Louisville needs some stronger universities and a tech "incubator" environment, which it doesn't have a strong enough base yet--but we will see. It has a lot of underlying buzz about it that sounds promising, but has yet to take off.
Similar to Cincinnati, I've heard good things about Louisville as being a cool place to live, but it doesn't really have the economic strength to truly take off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc
Richmond is a capital city and sits in a terrific geographical location--similar to Raleigh. The poverty and crime has dragged it down, but the 2020s might be its decade to break out.
Not sure if I see the Richmond - Raleigh comparison. Raleigh's growth is all about UNC/Duke/NCSU and the educated workforce that those schools have provided. (Similarly Austin has been driven by UT). VCU is a decent school but it does not compare to those.
SLC will because it's cool and hip and safe/good for families. People don't seem to take the Mormon thing too serious, so we'll see where that goes.
Omaha is perceived as a bland prairie flyover city, but it could be seen as a cool hip town.
Jacksonvilles literally only going to grow fast because it's in Florida.
Louisville, eh, maybe southerners will see it as cool. Richmond same thing.
Boston, DC, San Francisco, Seattle, LA, Miami will keep booming as much as their city limits and housing prices allow them to.
Chicago seems to be booming already with all those huge skyscrapers going up, and I think by the end of the decade it will be in a much better position. Even if it continues to lose population it will keep gentrifying and gaining affluent residents.
Baltimore seems to be quite a bit less deadly this year, so hopefully that's a sign that in the near future, the city can gentrify a bit and become more cool to young professionals.
I don't see that much economic growth coming to Philadelphia at all this decade, and besides the regular immigration, the most population growth it's going to get is from NYers priced out of Brooklyn and Staten Island.
New York will continue to boom same as always. Nothing is going to change that.
Of these, I think SLC and then Jax, both of which already have strong growth.
Richmond seems well positioned, but it hasn't really seen that take off yet.
Kind of a surprised to not see Raleigh on this list, but maybe OP considered it to already be booming.
Raleigh/Durham CSA is bigger and growing faster than Nashville CSA. There's over $10 billion in notable development projects in the works/proposed in Raleigh city limits alone. Personally I think it's a good thing we're not nationally known like Nashville or Austin. It keeps the venture capitalists and speculators away. Raleigh is for the people that live here, not the tourists or investors.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
