The Cities That Have Changed the Most in the Past 10 Years

MagnifyMoney, a subsidiary of LendingTree , on Thursday released an analysis of the 50 largest metro areas that identifies those that have changed the most over the past 10 years. Austin, Dallas and Houston topped the list.

MagnifyMoney analyzed home prices, crime rates, building permits, commute times and other elements to identify areas of high metropolitan change and give each city a “Change Score” of 0 to 100.

Places that Changed the Most
1. Austin, Texas (90.4) Austin is a magnet for change, with the fastest job growth in the nation (+40% since 2006), 60% of residents moving since 2010 and a 54% rise in house prices since 2006, the most of the 50 metros ranked.
2. Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas (89.7) Dallas-Fort Worth is in the top 10 for five of the change categories: employment, recent moves, building permits, house prices and crime rate. Dallas – Fort Worth’s crime rate is down 43% from 2006.
3. Houston, Texas (86.2) Houston rounds out the trio of big Texas cities at the top of the change list, led by housing factors. The city ranks No. 2 for house price appreciation, at 38% from 2006, and No. 3 for building permit expansion.

Places that Changed the Least
50. Birmingham, Alabama (61.1) Birmingham ranks in the bottom half of change for all nine metrics analyzed, and notably lags in employment growth, at 3% in the 10 years between 2006 and 2016. House prices are down 2% from their 2006 level as of 2016, while commute times are identical to levels 10 years prior.
49. Milwaukee, Wisconsin (61.7) M Additional Information: ilwaukee also lags in employment growth at 4% in 10 years, but it’s one of the few areas where rent growth hasn’t significantly outpaced income growth, with median rent up 19% in 10 years, compared to income up 15%.
48. New Orleans, Louisiana (63.4) While New Orleans is third from the bottom in terms of change, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina it’s made big progress in one key metric – employment, which is up 30% since 2006, ranking No. 3 among the 50 largest metros for growth. It lags in some metrics where too much change is a negative – rent growth and commute time growth.

Ranking Highlights

Commute times
% change in commute times, 2006 – 2016

1. San Francisco +18%
2. San Jose + 18%
3. Los Angeles +12%
4. Boston +12%
5. Portland +12%

Employment
Employment change, 2006 – 2016

1. Austin +40%
2. Raleigh +32%
3. New Orleans +30%
4. San Antonio +29%
5. Nashville +24%

Income
Median income change, 2006 – 2016

1. San Francisco +37%
2. San Jose +36%
3. Austin +34%
4. Oklahoma City +31%
5. Portland +31%

House prices
House price index change, 2006 – 2016

1. Austin +54%
2. Houston +38%
3. Denver +35%
4. Las Vegas -34%
5. Dallas +32%

Rent
% change in median rent, 2006-2016

1. San Jose +68%
2. Denver +60%
3. Seattle +55%
4. Portland +52%
5. San Francisco +49%

Recent moves
% of residents who moved into their residence in 2010 or later

1. Las Vegas 66%
2. Phoenix 61%
3. Austin 60%
4. Orlando 58%
5. Denver 56%

Median age
Change in median age of residents, 2006 – 2016

1. Riverside, Calif. +3.4 years
2. Phoenix +2.8 years
3. Sacramento, Calif. +2.6 years
4. Detroit +2.4 years
5. Los Angeles +2.3 years

For more information on the study, visit http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/featured/which-cities-have-changed-the-most/.