Best Small Metro Area for Business & Careers for 2002-2005
The Forbes/Milken list of Best Places for Business and Careers ranks 200 metropolitan areas based on the latest government data for employment and wage growth over one- and five-year periods. Analysts at the Milken Institute also search for critical shifts within the vast technology sector, weighting one- and five-year changes in gross tech output, technology as a percentage of the total metro economy and the diversity within tech industries.
We added a job momentum category this year, tracking employment during the first quarter of 2002 to gauge how the metro areas were handling the effects of Sept. 11 and the slowing economy of 2001.
Las Cruces, N.M., tops this year's Forbes/Milken Institute ranking as the best small metro area (populations below 177,000) for business and careers. The rankings are based on job growth and earned income, plus a measure of activity in critical technologies that foster future growth.
The Top Ten
1. Las Cruces
2. Iowa City
3. Tyler
4. Punta Gorda
5. Sioux Falls
6. Fort Walton
7. Bryan Metro Area
8. Pocatello
9. Lawrence
10. Rochester
From:
Forbes.com
Special Report
Best Places
05.09.02, 6:30 PM ET
