Study: Kansas City, MO Ranks 9th Best Large City for Economic Growth

Posted July 18, 2024

A study from CoworkingCafe.com has identified the top U.S. cities that have achieved an economic boom in a post-pandemic world.

The study, America’s Boomtowns: Top Cities for Economic Growth, found U.S. cities with the best economic evolution between 2018 and 2022. Cities were graded based on economic and social indicators including median earnings, business applications, crime rate, educational attainment, employment rate, unemployment rate, GDP, housing units, infrastructure, population growth and trade exports.

Kansas City, Missouri ranked as the 9th best large city for economic growth, according to the study. KCMO scored a total of 50 points. Additionally, the city had the 3rd highest increase in educational attainment and the 5th highest growth in business applications. Kansas City also had the 3rd highest increase in population, growing 3% from 2018 to 2022 at a total of 509,129.

Kansas City, MO economic evolution 2018-22:
GDP Evolution (22%)
Business Applications Evolution (69%)
Trade-Exports Evolution (32%)
Median Earnings Evolution (24%)
Employment Rate Evolution (1%)
Unemployment Rate Evolution (−1%)
Population Growth Evolution (3%)
Crime Evolution (8%)
Education Attainment Evolution (6%)
Housing Units Evolution (5%)
Infrastructure Evolution (−2%)

The top large cities, with a population of 500,000 plus, were Mesa, AZ; Fort Worth, TX; Phoenix, AZ; Sacramento, CA and Austin, TX and Fresno, CA were tied for 5th.