San Diego Ranked No. 4 City for Job Growth: Study

According to a study out of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, San Diego is currently one of the top cities in the U.S. for job growth.

The study, released Thursday, is based on the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and ranks America’s Finest City No. 4 for non-agricultural job growth from the period between July 2011 to July 2012.

The study says San Diego’s job growth is up 2.9 percent. San Diego earned the fourth spot on the list in a three-way tie with Seattle and Phoenix, also up 2.9 percent.

The top city on the list is San Francisco with a 3.5 percent growth, followed by Houston and Denver.

Meanwhile, the study named California the second top state for non-agricultural job growth, up 2.6 percent. In the past year, California has added 362,000 jobs, moving up from 38th place last year to second place today, according to the research.

North Dakota topped the states list with a growth of 6.9 percent. It has ranked No. 1 for the past 38 months largely in part to oil and gas production, researchers said.

According to the study, the overall job growth rate for the U.S. from July 2011 to July 2012 was 1.4 percent. The study says the number of jobs nationwide went up 1.83 million.