Year-over-year employment growth in 2024 was revised up to 2.5%, making Orlando the fastest-growing of the 30 most populous regions in the country in 2024 – the first year Orlando has claimed that title since 2016.
| ✓ | Revised estimates suggest the Orlando region added 37,500 jobs in 2024. |
| ✓ | Orlando was the fastest-growing large employment center in the U.S., despite a modest slowdown from 2023. |
| ✓ | The region’s ongoing growth creates the opportunity to drive generational change, yet greater intentionality is needed. |
Orlando was the fastest-growing large employment center in the country in 2024, according to revised data released earlier this month by the Florida Department of Commerce. Year-over-year employment growth in the Orlando region was more pronounced than previously estimated, revised up to 2.5% and marking the first year Orlando has claimed the title of fastest-growing employment center since 2016.
The revision shows the Orlando region added 37,500 jobs in the 12 months ending December 2024, a significant increase from the 16,000 originally reported. Employment estimates are benchmarked annually based on more complete input data – a process designed to improve the accuracy of the estimates.
This is the first year Orlando has claimed the title of fastest-growing employment center since 2016.
Nation’s Fastest-Growing Employment Center
Orlando averaged 44,300 new jobs per year in the 5-year period leading up to the pandemic (2015-2019). Therefore, the 37,500 new jobs added in 2024 represents a modest slowdown from both 2023 and pre-pandemic trends – even if the upward revision brought 21,500 more jobs than first thought.
The new numbers equate to an average of 103 new jobs per day in 2024, with almost all major industries participating. Healthcare and the region’s headline tourism industry were again major contributors – adding 6,900 and 7,700 jobs, respectively. Key local industries outperforming their national counterparts were the information sector (which captures large parts of the tech industry, and whose momentum locally has been highlighted by the growth of ThreatLocker) and financial activities (where the region has seen multiple recent expansions, most notably by BNY Mellon and Charles Schwab).
The revised data confirms Orlando’s position as one of the country’s leading regional job engines.
Job growth slowed from 2023 in many of the country’s most populous regions amid election-year uncertainty and high inflation.
Taking Stock
There are many ways to assess how well a regional economy is serving its residents. One approach is to consider whether everyone who wants a job can find one. In this regard, Orlando continues to be a national leader – adding 37,500 jobs in 2024 to accommodate a labor force expansion of 23,000 workers.
This is Orlando’s great untold story – the region’s ability to successfully absorb new residents into our economy.
Orlando was one of just a handful of large regions in 2024 to close the year with unemployment at or below 3% alongside an expanding labor force.
Yet, regions should also be judged by how well they protect their populations from future downturns by diversifying their employment base – and, in this regard, Orlando’s progress is more nuanced.
The Orlando region surpassed 1.5 million jobs in 2024. A comparison between Orlando’s employment structure last year and when we hit 1 million jobs (back in 2005) can help determine any material shifts in our economy.
Over the period, the professional & business services industry expanded its share of regional employment alongside the region’s booming business base while retail declined in significance. Still, the region’s economic composition remains broadly similar to its makeup 20 years ago, with consumption-driven sectors accounting for approximately half of all employment. This vulnerability to shifts in consumer sentiment is not just true for Orlando but also in much of modern-day United States.
Yet Orlando is in an enviable position. New population estimates reveal Orlando was the fastest-growing large region in the U.S. in 2024, creating a unique opportunity to align and shape this influx of people to the economy of the future.
The regions who lead the future will be those that leverage their talent to transition local employment into innovative, outward-looking industries.
Orlando’s growth puts the region at an early advantage.
Looking Ahead
Orlando’s job growth in 2024 mirrors what the Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP) heard directly from local businesses through our Orlando MSA Business Conditions Survey. Throughout 2024, businesses reported disciplined hiring to achieve growth ambitions in the face of both cost pressures and political uncertainty.
As we celebrate our success in generating opportunity for our growing population, the OEP is putting in motion a strategy to challenge our default path over the next few decades. The Orlando 2045 initiative seeks to lay the foundation for that strategy – setting forth a plan to create a region so attractive that Orlando becomes home to the world’s most innovative companies and talent.
About Orlando Market Commentaries
Market Commentaries are a series of timely analyses produced by the Orlando Economic Partnership’s Research & Strategy team. Commentaries are typically associated with a major data release or cover areas key to advancing the Partnership’s goal of Broad-based Prosperity®.
