What this does
The panel Top growing <State> careers (10-yr forecast) lists up to ten careers that the state's own labor-market office expects to grow fastest over ten years. Each row is a career name and a green percentage: how much employment in that career is projected to grow, from the start of the projection period to its end.
It helps a student spot fields with room to grow before choosing a major or a training program. A parent can see whether a career a child is weighing is among the fastest-growing in the state. A counselor can use it to open a conversation about careers a student has not heard of.
Growth here is a percentage, not a count. A small career can grow fast and still add fewer jobs than a large one that grows slowly. For the careers with the most openings, read the hiring panel next to it (see Most-hired careers right now).
Before you start
- Open the state page for the state where you expect to work. Projections are made state by state, so the list can differ a lot between neighbors.
- Know the period. Most states' projections run from 2022 to 2032. New York's and Hawaii's run from 2024 to 2034, because the site loads them straight from those states' labor departments. The panel itself does not print the years; the hiring panel next to it does, and the Sources: line under the card names the period for most states.
- These are forecasts made by state agencies from past trends. They do not account for events after they were made.
Step by step
- Open the state page and scroll to <State> labor market at a glance. The panel Top growing <State> careers (10-yr forecast) sits on the left, below the headline tiles.
- Read the line under the heading: BLS / state LMI long-term occupational projections (on the Texas page: TWC Long-Term Occupational Projections, 2022-2032). It names the kind of source.
- Read down the list. Each row shows a rank number, the career name in blue, and on the right a green percentage with a plus sign. The fastest-growing career is first.
- Click a career name. The Careers page opens with that career already chosen, showing its summary for this state: its wage, its projections and the paths into it.
- Use your browser's Back button to return to the state page and try another career.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for (menu) | Above the page title | Opens the state page of the state you pick; its panel lists that state's growing careers. | The state of the page you opened | United States goes to the home page. |
| Career name (each row) | In the list | Opens the Careers page with that career chosen, for this state. | — | The link carries the state, so the career page shows the same state's figures. |
| List order | The whole list | Nothing to change: the order is fixed, fastest growth first. | Largest percentage first | There is no sort, filter or "show more" control. |
Reading the results
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank number | Position in the list | 1 to 10 | — | Careers sorted by projected percentage growth, largest first. |
| Career name | The occupation, by its plain name | Text, a link | Occupation names used across the site | Only careers the site can name and link are listed. |
| Green percentage | Projected growth in the number of jobs in that career in the state over the projection period | Percent change over ten years, one decimal, with a plus sign | State long-term occupational projections: 2022–2032 for most states (gathered by Projections Central); 2024–2034 for New York (New York State Department of Labor) and Hawaii (Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations); Texas from the Texas Workforce Commission, 2022–2032 | Published by the state agency: projected jobs at the end of the period minus jobs at the start, divided by jobs at the start. |
| Line under the heading | The kind of source | Text | — | BLS / state LMI long-term occupational projections everywhere but Texas. "LMI" means labor market information, the state office that makes the projections. |
Which careers can be on the list
- Growing only. A career must be projected to grow (above zero). If fewer than ten careers qualify, the list is shorter; it is never filled out with shrinking careers.
- At least 5,000 jobs. A career needs at least 5,000 projected jobs in the state at the end of the period. This keeps very small careers, where a few hires make a big percentage, off the list.
- Single careers, not groups. Broad group totals (a whole job family added up) are left out.
- Newest projections. If the state has more than one projection period loaded for a career, the newest one is used.
- Up to ten rows.
When the list is short or missing
- Fewer than ten rows: fewer careers met the rules above. This happens in the smallest states, where few careers reach 5,000 jobs; in the site's current data, Vermont, Alaska and Wyoming have fewer than ten.
- Too few occupations with long-term projections in <State> to rank.: only one or two careers qualified, so the panel shows this line instead of a near-empty list.
- Long-term projections not yet ingested for this state.: no projections are loaded for the state. On the Texas page the line reads TWC LMI projections not yet ingested.
- The panel itself is never hidden. Its heading and either the list or one of these lines always show. Only if the whole labor-market card fails does it change: outside Texas you see the warm-up note and the "not yet ingested" line; on the Texas page the whole card stays hidden.
Each row also carries the number of jobs at the start and end of the period and the yearly openings, but this panel shows only the percentage. The career page shows more.
Read more about how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A high-school senior in New York is choosing between two health programs and wants to know which field is growing.
- The student opens the New York page and scrolls to Top growing New York careers (10-yr forecast).
- The list shows up to ten careers, each with a green percentage for growth from 2024 to 2034, largest first.
- To confirm the years, the student looks at the hiring panel's label beside it, Projected average openings a year, 2024–2034, …, which uses the same New York projections.
- One of the two careers the student is weighing is on the list. The student clicks it. The Careers page opens for that career, set to New York, with its pay and paths in.
- The other career is not on the list. That does not mean it is shrinking: it may be growing more slowly than the top ten, or it may have fewer than 5,000 jobs in the state. The student searches for it on the Careers page to see its own projection.
Common questions
- Why is a career I know is growing not on the list?
- Only the ten with the largest percentage growth are shown, and only careers projected to reach at least 5,000 jobs in the state. A large career growing steadily, or a small one growing fast, can miss the list. Search for it on the Careers page to see its own outlook.
- Why does my state show fewer than ten careers?
- In small states only a few careers reach 5,000 jobs and are growing. The list is never padded with careers that are shrinking.
- Why do New York and Hawaii use different years?
- Their projections come straight from their own labor departments, whose newest release covers 2024–2034. Every other state's comes from the 2022–2032 round gathered by Projections Central.
- Why do two neighboring states rank the same career differently?
- Each state makes its own projections from its own jobs data. A career can be booming in one state and flat next door.
- Is a high percentage the same as many jobs?
- No. The percentage compares the end of the period with the start. A career with 5,000 jobs that grows by a third adds fewer jobs than one with 100,000 that grows by a tenth. For counts of openings, see the hiring panel.
- Why is there no outlook for my state?
- If the panel says Long-term projections not yet ingested for this state., the projections are not loaded on this server yet. As of early November 2026 every state had them.
- Will the list change?
- Only when a state publishes a new round of projections and the site loads it. The rest of the page updates more often, but this list stays the same between rounds.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board and does not list open jobs.
- It is not advice. A growing field is not automatically the right one for you.
- Projections are estimates by state agencies, not guarantees. They can miss changes that came after they were made.
- Nothing about you is stored. Sign-in is used only for saving reports.
- It does not show shrinking careers, very small careers, or the number of jobs added.
- It does not compare the state's growth with the U.S.; the home page does that once you pick a state.
Related
- State pages
- Most-hired careers right now (openings a year)
- Top-paying careers
- Careers guide and A career's detail page
- National overview
- Live page: Careers