Recession? Depression? Does it matter what you call it? (Photo credit: Renegade98)

By Tim Mullaney

Most U.S. cities won’t regain all the local jobs lost in the recession until 2015 or later. Top performers: College towns, oil centers, military base communities.

More than half of all U.S. metro areas won’t regain the jobs lost in the recession until the second half of 2015 or later, an analysis for the U.S. Conference of Mayors says.

Less than a third of U.S. cities and their surrounding suburbs have recovered all the jobs lost since the arrival of the financial crisis. Of 363 U.S. metros, 98 now have more workers than at their pre-recession peak, with an additional 11 slated to join them by the end of the year, according to projections by IHS Global Insight, which compiled the data.

Sixty-one metros won’t see a full recovery until 2021 or later.

The data highlight how slowly most of the U.S. continues to recover from the economic crisis, said Bob Tomarelli, regional economist at IHS. Cities that recouped jobs fastest typically had universities or health care industry concentrations, major federal-agency or military employers, or exploited newly commercialized shale oil and gas, he said.

Read More Many cities face long waits to regain lost jobs.