GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids has fallen from the top spot to No. 25 on LinkedIn's annual "Cities on the Rise" ranking, one year after the city claimed the No. 1 position on the world's largest professional networking platform.
The list measures job market momentum and whether more workers are moving into a city than moving out.
LinkedIn highlighted the Grand Rapids metro area for its proximity to Lake Michigan, affordable living, and vibrant culture.
"Its deep manufacturing roots — particularly in furniture manufacturing — are evolving alongside a growing tech sector and new healthcare investment along the city's Medical Mile," LinkedIn said.
The top industries LinkedIn identified as hiring in Grand Rapids are hospitals and healthcare, higher education, and transportation equipment manufacturing. The top companies listed are Corewell Health, Grand Valley State University, and Meijer.
Augusta, Georgia, has claimed the new No. 1 spot for jobs and new talent. Like Grand Rapids, Augusta's growth is also heavily focused on healthcare and higher education.
One key difference between the two cities is work flexibility. Remote job availability stands at 26% in Augusta compared to 2.7% in Grand Rapids. However, Grand Rapids has a slightly higher median household income at $69,110, compared to Augusta's $55,485.
LinkedIn noted that its methodology excluded larger markets to focus on emerging trends in smaller cities.
"Metro areas with more than 2.5 million LinkedIn members were excluded to better highlight emerging labor market dynamics in mid-sized and smaller metros," LinkedIn said.
LinkedIn also described the scope of its data.
"This analysis represents the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data and is based on anonymized and aggregated datasets analyzing millions of U.S. member profiles and job postings from March 1, 2024 to February 1, 2026," LinkedIn said.
FOX 17 will update this story with perspective on what this means for neighbors who call Grand Rapids home.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
