Released: May 04, 2006

Forbes lists best places for business/careers

Source: Forbes [Edited by Kurt Badenhausen]

In a new ranking by Forbes of the best places for business and careers, perennial top-ten metros like Atlanta, Austin and Northern Virginia-Washington, D.C., fell from the highest perch, hurt by slowing income growth. Newcomers that cracked the top tier include Houston, riding high on oil profits, and Phoenix, lifted by a housing and population boom. Overall, half of the top ten places are new this year.

Forbes expanded this year’s list to include the 200 largest metro areas, up from 150, thanks to Uncle Sam’s reconfiguration of metropolitan statistical areas - which split regions like Raleigh-Durham into two. Both areas made the Top Ten thanks to low business costs, a highly educated workforce and strong migration trends. To be considered a metro area, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires at least one urbanized area of 50,000 people.

The Forbes list offers a wide range of choices for someone looking to start a business or relocate for a new job. The places in the top 20 are scattered across the country, and no state holds more than two spots.

Two states that did not fair so well in the rankings are California and Florida. Despite having a combined 38 metro areas as defined by the OMB, neither state has an area in the top quartile.

The highest-ranking metro in these sunshine-filled states is the Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine area in California, which placed 58th thanks to low crime and a very educated labor force.

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