In addition to looking for current growth, you can look for industry diversity, such that an area's economy is not overly concentrated in one industry.Some folks use data like the U-Haul Migration Trends.

Article Highlights Below:
“U.S. Census Bureau sheds light on the flow of out-of-staters into Central Texas. The analysis shows the greatest source of new arrivals in the Austin area remains other parts of Texas — esp...

I’ve also read that current migration patterns in the US show people moving to the South and West.Gathering all this information is great to help target different areas to invest, but it’s also maddening.

I've read interesting studies that point to our population migration patterns pointing to slightly greater persons moving to the area than from it. 

You will want to look at population migration and economic drivers.

Hello all, Recent news articles show strong migration from metro areas to suburbs.

Your laundry may be able to be migrated from Coin to electronic, which would result in a direct deposit to your account. 

I believe that COVID migration has just begun (micro and macro migration) 

Migration.

The biggest metric that makes me think that real-estate is not going to boom is that we are experiencing a net outflow in migration, and real estate is a demographically driven market segment.