As the unemployment rate falls, these cities added the most jobs

Attention job-seekers: Midland, Texas, is hiring.

The Western Texas city, which is home to 136,000 people, has experienced the largest percentage growth in jobs over the past year of any metropolitan area in the country, according to April data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of people employed in Midland has jumped by more than 12% over the past year, well above the 2% job growth rate nationwide.

Nearby Odessa, Texas, wasn’t too far behind — the number of jobs there has risen 6.1% since April 2017. Both cities have a single industry to thank for their employment growth: Oil. The Midland-Odessa region is the heart of Texas’ petroleum industry, and the rising price of crude oil has certainly benefitted these cities though recent price declines could spell trouble.

Metropolitan area	Jobs in April 2017 (thousands)	Jobs in April 2018 (thousands)	Year-over-year change
Midland, Texas	91.2	102.3	12.2%
Odessa, Texas	72	76.4	6.1%
Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.	135.8	143.3	5.5%
Walla Walla, Wash.	27.7	29.2	5.4%
Yakima, Wash.	85.9	90	4.8%
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla.	113.4	118.7	4.7%
St. George, Utah	63.8	66.6	4.4%
Gainesville, Ga.	89.1	92.8	4.2%
Reno, Nev.	228.4	238.1	4.2%
Ocean City, N.J.	37.7	39.3	4.2%

Such a trend isn’t unique to the oil industry or West Texas though. Domestic travel has increased in recent years — and the expanded tourism revenue has translated into impressive job growth for many cities across the country.

In Indiana’s Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area, the number of jobs has increased 5.5% over the past year. The city is host to the country’s two largest manufacturers of recreational vehicles — Thor Industries   and Forest River The RV industry has seen shipments of new vehicles spike 12% over the past year, according to the RV Industry Association.

Tourism also enriched the fortunes for the job markets in other cities, including St. George, Utah, a suburb of Las Vegas, and Destin, Fla.