In Case You Missed It... Texas Metros Top Best Performing Cities According To Milken Institute

Press Release

Several Texas metro areas have been ranked in the top spots of the 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index. The Lone Star State claimed four of the top five spots, including number one, and nine of the top 16 spots.

"When people across the nation look at Texas, they're discovering that we've fostered an environment that encourages people to pursue their dreams, build businesses and create jobs," Gov. Perry said. "Our low taxes, predictable regulations and diverse and educated workforce have propelled us to the forefront of the global economy, and Texas continues to be an example for the rest of the nation."

The Austin-Round Rock area was named the number one Best Performing City, with Killeen-Fort Hood-Temple, Mc Allen-Edinburg-Mission and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown claiming the second, fourth and fifth spots, respectively. Additionally, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown was named one of the top five largest cities, and Midland was named the number one small metro.

The index ranks U.S. metro areas based on their ability to create and sustain jobs, and includes long-term (five years) and short-term (one year) measurements of employment and salary growth, and four measurements of technology output growth. The report credits Texas' favorable business climate and ability to attract jobs and corporations away from higher-cost states with propelling metropolitan areas to the top of the index.

"Texas' strong position in our "Best Performing Cities' study demonstrates that a favorable business climate, combined with a low cost/low tax environment, is highly supportive of job creation," Ross DeVol, senior economist at the Milken Institute and lead author of the report, said. "The state has diversified its economy by fostering several key high-tech clusters and the passage of Proposition 4, allocating $500 million in funding for research universities, will make Texas an even more formidable competitor in the future."

To view a copy of the full report or get more information about the metros indexed, please visit http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications.taf?function=detail&ID=38801218&cat=resrep or http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/bestcities2009.taf.

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