Milken Institute releases information on best-performing U.S. cities.

• Position: News & Numbers

The Milken Institute Best Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage, salary, and technology growth. The 10 best-performing metropolitan areas for 2009, according to the index, are: Austin-Round Rock, Texas; Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas; Houston-Sugar LandBaytown, Texas; Durham, North Carolina; Olympia, Washington; Huntsville, Alabama; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina.

The report expands on a number of key findings. Due to the challenging macroeconomic environment, even the top-performing cities did not experience robust growth, although some did post modest job gains. During good economic times, the cities that dominate the index exhibit dynamic growth, but in 2009, it is not surprising that the best performance included only mild increases in employment. Very few cities experienced meaningful job growth in 2008, and just a few are likely to manage an increase in 2009. Those with the best performance this year did not experience large housing bubbles earlier this decade and had low proportions of subprime mortgages relative to total mortgage originations.

Among the 200 largest metropolitan areas, four of the top 5 were in Texas. Of the top 25 spots, nine were in Texas, which accounted for four of the top 10 best-performing small metropolitan areas as well. Austin-Round Rock, Texas, which scored the number-one position among the 200 largest metros, seems poised to be among a handful of cities that will add jobs in...