Several smaller U.S. cities that have already attracted Big Law interest may still have room to grow in law firm ranks, according to a recent analysis of legal billing, while cities such as Fresno, California, and Greenville, South Carolina, could be the next spots for law firm expansion.

Law firms that have opened in cities such as Nashville, Seattle and Miami over the last few years have pointed to population growth as a key ingredient when scouring the map for additional places to plant their flag. Those three markets are also among the ones that have experienced “a significant spike in hourly rates” last year, along with “much higher than average population growth in recent years,” according to data from Wolters Kluwer’s ELM Solutions, a legal analytics company.