Forbes report: Kansas City is a top 5 metro for high-wage jobs
June 28, 2017 | Bobby Burch
Kansas City is atop yet another national list touting its economic vibrancy.
Forbes recently released a report analyzing U.S. cities that create the most high-wage jobs, and Kansas City earned the No. 2 spot. The magazine said the City of Fountains’ low taxes and pro-business regulatory environment helped launch it into the top five cities for high-wage jobs.
“KC, better known in the rest of the country for barbecue and its music scene (though not quite Nashville), has grown a vibrant economy based in good part on service businesses in architecture and innovative administrative support models (especially for health care providers), accounting for some 100,000 jobs in professional and business services,” Forbes’ Joel Kotkin wrote.
The study analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data from the 70 largest labor markets in the country. It evaluated employment in the business services sector over time, looking at short-, medium- and long-term job trends.
Kansas City boasts 469,200 jobs in the business services sector, netting a 9.3 percent growth between 2011 to 2016, according to the report. Its growth in business service jobs outpaces tech hotbeds such as San Francisco and San Jose.
Nashville, Tenn., took the No. 1 spot in the list with 968,800 jobs in the business services sector and a 20.6 percent growth between 2011 to 2016, according to the report. Austin earned the No. 3 spot, San Francisco the No. 4 and Dallas a No. 5 ranking.

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Vegan spell falls over West Bottoms restaurant as this trio’s plant-based potions ring in a new year
Every witch needs a coven, said Olive Cooke, Sylvia Metta and Kim Conyers; so they conjured a community in the West Bottoms to serve their vegan bites. Cauldron Collective — a plant-based, comfort food venture co-founded by self-proclaimed “cooking witches” Cooke, Metta and Conyers in January 2021 — made its mark in Kansas City through…
Topeka is building its own startup hub; a new group is pushing those left out from survival mode to creation
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. The…
Trade to troubadour: Ben Chaverin finds his hook, but just sampling KC’s music scene might not be enough
Entering the job market amid a global pandemic isn’t ideal, Ben Chaverin admits, but its challenges can become opportunities for those creative (and willing) enough to turn adversity into a new playlist. “I’ve learned so much in the last couple of years — and grown so much as a human being,” Chaverin said, recalling his December…
Why the ‘best cold brew you’ve ever tasted’ (and it’s brewer) are found only in KC
Tucked in your neighborhood grocer’s cooler waits an otherworldly cold brew — the smoothest this side of the twilight zone. And it can only be found in Kansas City. For now. “I take my craft really seriously and I taste every batch. If it’s not right, it doesn’t go out. It’s really important to me…
