Charlotte added the second-most jobs of any metro area in 2025
Trailed only New York City, which is 7x as large
The following article appeared in the February 9, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
What jobs slowdown? Charlotte topped almost all of the nation in job growth in 2025, Labor Department says
The Charlotte region added more jobs than any other metro area in the country except New York City in 2025, bucking the national trend toward slower hiring, according to Labor Department statistics released Friday.
Although Charlotte is fast-growing in population, the news is still surprising because our region is nowhere near the largest. The Charlotte metro area, with about 2.9 million residents, ranks No. 21 in the country.
Yet the 37,600 jobs that the Labor Department said were created in the Charlotte region in 2025 were second only to the New York City region, which is seven times the size of Charlotte and added 48,400 jobs. The figures show that the Charlotte region created more jobs in 2025 than 44 states.
We thrashed a lot of our peer cities, including Austin, Texas (+10,100); Atlanta (-300); Dallas (+14,200); Nashville (+12,400) and Tampa, Fla. (+14,400). The Raleigh-Durham area, which is counted in the statistics as two metro areas, gained 16,500 jobs.
“Charlotte is probably one of the best job markets in the country right now,” said economist Mark Vitner of Charlotte-based Piedmont Crescent Capital. “People are moving here because there are a lot of jobs. When you add a lot of people, it creates a lot of jobs, too. … Charlotte is just having a moment right now where we are the hot thing.”
He said some of the signs have been pointing to stronger Charlotte job growth lately, including apartments and offices filling more quickly than anticipated. The region has about 1.43 million workers.
Charlotte also had a gangbusters 2025 for attracting new companies: The city’s economic development office said in December that Charlotte had its best year for business recruitment in more than a decade, with 15 announcements totaling nearly 4,000 jobs and more than $424M in investments — with “no sign of slowdown in 2026.”
The pace of jobs Charlotte added in 2025 is more than twice as many as in 2024, when Labor Department figures show the region created about 16,000 jobs.
Nationally, companies added 525,000 jobs in 2025, a far slower pace than the 2.1 million created in 2024.
Vitner said he expects the numbers to be revised to show less growth in Charlotte than the initial numbers indicate, but that the region will still show strong job growth: “Relative to other areas, we will still be one of the best in the country.” —Tony Mecia
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