Indianapolis isn’t a coastal city. But here’s why job numbers make it look like one.

The mid-2000s brought about a shift in the geography of jobs in Central Indiana, setting trends that researchers say will have a lasting impact on the area's economic development.

Job density — the degree to which jobs are concentrating or dispersing — surged from 5,075 jobs per square mile in the Indianapolis metro area in 2004 to 7,181 in 2015, the latest data available, according to a Brookings report on the migration of jobs in U.S. metro areas released Tuesday.

Researchers examined job density within and across 94 U.S. metro areas over 11 years. Only half of the areas studied experienced an increase in job density while others sprawled, the report said.

Indianapolis saw an increase in job density that was greater than expected for an interior U.S. city — 42 percent over the 11-year period — making it a case study for Brookings. The area is among 19 metropolitan cities, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle, that posted greater-than-expected gains. The remaining large metros fell short of expected gains in the concentration of jobs.

Here's why that's important for Indianapolis.

What the report says

The report, published via Brookings Metro's Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking, examines where jobs are concentrated in metropolitan America.

Researchers analyzed local-area employment data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The data is limited to private, non-administrative sectors of the economy outside of Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

Brookings: Where jobs are concentrating and why it matters to cities and regions

The report's authors found that the Indianapolis metro area ranked 50th in job density out of the 94 large U.S. metro areas in 2004. But by 2015, Indianapolis climbed up the list to 33rd.

Chad Shearer, a senior research associate and lead author of the report, said the metro area's rapid surge in job density is attributed to two factors: one, a gain in jobs in the professional services sector and at corporate headquarters, and two, the retention of urban manufacturing jobs, which low-density suburban areas and commuter towns shed during the Great Recession.

"You've seen Salesforce moves into Salesforce Tower. ... You've seen new headquarters move into downtown or adjacent to downtown," said Shearer. "There's just been this job boom there that's sort of really driven up the region's density."

Indianapolis is a Brookings case study because the metro area proves that rapidly increasing job density isn't isolated to large, coastal U.S. cities. At the same time, job density has increased in parts of Johnson County and areas like Carmel in Hamilton County. 

Carmel has developed around the town center concept, becoming an "edge city" with ample restaurants, retail offerings and office space that rival urban Indianapolis, said Shearer. 

"It's an example of a suburban area that's actually competing with the density that you find in urban areas — meaning more kinds of office jobs that are attractive," he added. 

Why it matters

Job density, the authors said, is just one measure of economic activity. Density is important because it helps foster economic development, civic engagement and helps promote environmentally healthier and more sustainable cities.

And like other U.S. metros, the geography of where jobs are located in the Indianapolis metro area has shifted dramatically over time. 

Jobs in Indianapolis are concentrated in several sectors such as health care, professionals services and corporate work environments, particularly Downtown, according to the report.

Fast job growth in hospitality and health care occurred in and around the Downtown immediately after the Great Recession.

The urban core also gained a disproportionate share of new professional services jobs and the corporate headquarters of companies such as Salesforce. The retail and hospitality job sector started growing again, Shearer added. Information and high-tech rushed into urban centers to take advantage of the proximity of services available Downtown. 

"The region's investment in its Downtown and adjacent neighborhoods are really paying off," Shearer said. "It's taken a long period of time to really make all of these investments and make the changes in these urban neighborhoods, but clearly the region is locating a lot more jobs Downtown."

Locating both high- and low-wage jobs Downtown makes employment opportunities accessible to more workers, particularly those who'd have a harder time finding work elsewhere, he said. It's also important that suburban areas like Carmel are seeing job growth, which will result in more tax dollars for the local government, additional services and new infrastructure investments.

What does this mean for the future

Brookings researchers said the trends found in the data have held for metros areas like Indianapolis since 2015.

U.S. metro areas have continued to grow denser in the past fours years, he said, Industries increasingly prefer dense areas.

The report also notes that the digital economy rewards cities that can attract innovation, companies and an educated workers. Elected officials should pay attention to the pattern of job growth, researchers say.

"These are the 21st-century industries that kind of power innovation and economic growth, it's kind of safe to say, and competition for them is therefore very fierce," Shearer said. "Our report highlights that investing in places, investing in development is an important part of the strategy to really grow."

Contact IndyStar reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @allyburris.