Boise metro ranked in top 10 for ‘future-proof’ careers

In a recent study, Boise has been ranked in the top 10 metro areas in the nation for jobs and innovation.

Commercial Café, a commercial real estate data and analytics provider, recently ranked various-sized metro areas for job growth in different sectors.

Boise placed seventh in the top 10 mid-sized metro areas for “future-proof careers,” the data showed, garnering a total of 61.5 points.

Data was gleaned from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to predict how metro areas ranked among similarly sized cities across the country.

According to Commercial Café, “Starting from the BLS’s projections of jobs and companies that are expected to grow by 2032, we ranked the U.S. metros that offer the greatest opportunities for careers that are less likely to disappear. For the purposes of our study, we considered occupations and industries with employment growth above 3% (the predicted growth rate of the job market as a whole) to be future-proof. Metros were also awarded points for other indicators for job durability, such as average unemployment and educational attainment.”

Boise earned the highest innovation hub rank among the top 10 representing the number of patents granted from 2018 to 2022, the data showed. The number of patents is 19 for that time period.

The city also ranked fourth for the percentage of startup companies deemed future-proof (39.2%). It also saw a 7.6% growth in future-proof jobs from 2021 to 2022, which was the fifth highest among mid-sized metro areas.

Boise also had the second lowest unemployment rate in the last five years at 3.4% among the top 10.

The top 10 mid-sized metro areas from first-place to 10th were: Boulder, Colorado; Provo, Utah; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Durham, North Carolina; Fort Collins, Colorado; Boise; Trenton, New Jersey; Gainesville, Florida; and Oxnard, California.

For small metro areas, Idaho Falls ranked eighth for future-proof jobs.

The study also showed that the top industries for growth over the next 10 years are projected to be wind turbine service technicians, nurse practitioners, data scientists, information security analysts and medical and health services managers, respectively. Other careers expecting growth included many in health care, technology, veterinary services and taxi drivers.

Possibly not too surprising, San Jose, California, ranked at the top of large metro areas due to the continued dominance of the technology industry in the region.