The Wall Street Journal evaluated data from Moody’s Analytics that examined five metrics: unemployment, labor force participation rate, job growth, labor force growth and wage growth. The results included rankings among metros with more than 1 million people and those with fewer than that.

Kansas City jumped several spots in the ranking of the 381 metro cities based on how strong their job markets were. The two hottest U.S. job markets in 2019 were growing Southern states. Austin, Texas, ranked number one for the second year. Nashville, jumped to second place from their previous seventh place ranking. Both cities have metropolitan areas of approximately two million people. Contributing to their growth, Apple is building $1 billion campus in Texas while Amazon is investing large sums in Tennessee.

Encouragingly, Kansas City climbed four spots to number 20 in the overall rankings. The Kansas City metro area came in at number nine for labor force participation which was its highest ranking among the five key metrics. In comparison, St. Louis dropped four spots from last year to No. 31.