KirkLindstrom.com - Articles - 2013 - Top Cities for Business - US
Kirk Windsurfing at Palo Alto in SF Bay in May 2009
  Top Cities for Business - US
Best Cities for Business and Careers according to Forbes Survey

KirkLindstrom.com:  home page - Favorite Charts & Graphs  - More Articles 

 
June 12, 2013: According to Forbes "Best Places For Business And Careers1 these are the top cities for business and careers.  Forbes looked at the 200 largest metropolitan areas with NY City the largest at 11.7M people and Bremerton Washington the smallest with 252,000 residents.  Forbes looked at 12 metrics:
"We consider 12 metrics relating to job growth (past and projected), costs (business and living), income growth over the past five years, educational attainment and projected economic growth through 2014. We also factor in quality of life issues like crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration patterns. Lastly we included the number of highly ranked colleges in an area per our annual college rankings. We give the most weighting to business costs and educational attainment in the overall ranking." 

Now if I was doing the list, I would give top priority to:
  • highly educated and/or intelligent people to interact with and
  • over 100 days a year of wind during daylight hours with the low (lulls) over 15 mph when the temperature is above 50F with access to the water and wind less than a 30 minute drive.
For me, the only area that comes close is the SF Bay Area.  For the commute, Marin to North San Jose can hit the 30 minute drive to wind.  Maui and the Portland/Vancouver area are close seconds but Maui is too small for my taste and the Portland/Vancouver area is just too dreary weather wise most of the year.

Rank Metro Area Cost of Business
Rank		 Job Growth
Rank		 Education
Rank		 Population
1 Provo UT 33 30 28 542,700
2 Raleigh NC 29 15 13 1,169,000
3 Fort Collins, CO 66 23 6 306,200
4 Des Moines, IA 37 35 54 580,700
5 Denver CO 130 45 18 2,602,900
6 Ogden UT 27 39 73 557,600
7 Lincoln NE 9 28 39 306,900
8 Dallas TX 160 18 43 4,356,500
9 Austin TX 165 3 16 1,789,100
10 Nashville TN 32 41 79 1,620,600
Click for FREE sample of Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter
11 Omaha NE 50 36 45 878,300
12 Oklahoma City, OK 17 24 109 1,278,900
13 San Antonio, TX 21 11 130 2,201,400
14 Durham NC 94 31 11 513,600
15 Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 108 16 115 2,187,000
16 Seattle WA 161 53 14 2,696,600
17 Asheville NC 10 67 82 429,700
18 Charlotte NC 92 40 52 1,799,700
19 Fayetteville AR 40 59 133 474,700
20 Houston TX 185 8 99 6,102,800
21 Atlanta GA 96 122 36 5,364,300
22 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 156 104 20 3,323,100
23 San Francisco, CA 197 76 5 1,795,800
24 Columbus OH 79 65 49 1,859,700
25 Cambridge MA 198 37 4 1,519,000
26 Salt Lake, City 72 29 91 1,147,800
27 Boulder CO 146 43 1 299,900
28 San Jose, CA 193 61 7 1,866,900
29 New Orleans, LA 119 4 119 1,190,700
30 Kansas City, MO 90 60 49 2,055,800
31 Knoxville TN 35 51 92 705,400
32 Washington DC 195 22 8 4,488,100
33 Cedar Rapids, IA 38 17 104 260,800
34 Charleston SC 114 19 55 682,700
35 Pittsburgh PA 165 33 89 2,359,700
36 Portland OR 106 102 45 2,267,800
37 Lexington KY 43 94 62 479,900
38 Little Rock, AR 23 54 123 710,900
39 New York, NY 200 26 27 11,680,000
40 Boise ID 8 143 101 629,100
41 Louisville KY 26 96 128 1,296,400
42 Colorado Springs, CO 82 105 36 662,100
43 Anchorage AK 107 12 66 388,400
44 Indianapolis IN 47 84 70 1,781,800
45 Boston MA 199 47 12 1,904,900
46 Greeley CO 51 25 133 259,500
47 Rochester NY 102 50 45 1,055,300
48 Baltimore MD 167 56 29 2,731,200
49 Richmond VA 113 89 59 1,270,600
50 El Paso, TX 5 9 180 822,600
51 St. Louis, MO 45 113 77 2,844,200
52 Wilmington NC 18 98 51 370,800
53 Olympia WA 65 42 63 256,800
54 Tulsa OK 49 99 140 948,000
55 Huntsville AL 145 20 33 427,100
56 Albany NY 168 81 43 871,500
57 Long Island, NY 175 49 24 2,843,500
58 Greenville SC 75 71 115 648,100
59 Peabody MA 184 44 23 749,700
60 Rockingham County, NH 173 57 31 420,500
61 Allentown PA 149 55 120 825,600
62 Philadelphia PA 170 72 34 4,032,600
63 Lubbock TX 110 34 106 290,200
64 Baton Rouge, LA 76 21 120 809,100
65 McAllen TX 125 2 195 800,400
66 Worcester MA 186 73 48 802,200
67 Ann Arbor, MI 134 93 3 348,100
68 Wichita KS 34 109 113 626,100
69 Columbia SC 62 107 78 778,900
70 Mercer County, NJ 191 27 17 367,100
71 Brownsville TX 64 7 198 415,200
72 Greensboro NC 4 162 129 731,600
73 Bethesda MD 190 83 2 1,228,000
74 Roanoke VA 48 112 109 309,000
75 San Diego, CA 176 140 39 3,145,400
76 Lafayette LA 53 10 131 277,400
77 Tacoma WA 57 100 151 808,100
78 Scranton PA 52 85 161 563,100
79 Winston-Salem NC 14 131 113 482,400
80 Warren MI 137 185 59 2,484,300
81 Phoenix AZ 131 176 112 4,267,000
82 Oakland CA 172 177 15 2,598,700
83 Grand Rapids, MI 59 120 123 779,700
84 Albuquerque NM 73 137 84 899,900
85 Springfield MO 12 58 138 440,700
86 Poughkeepsie NY 133 66 65 673,300
87 Fort Wayne, IN 7 139 146 419,800
88 Charleston WV 36 64 181 303,800
89 Madison WI 129 38 10 576,700
90 Harrisburg PA 139 86 93 553,300
91 Milwaukee WI 136 123 59 1,562,900
92 Tucson AZ 81 152 75 990,000
93 Kennewick WA 60 1 146 264,400
94 Edison NJ 189 136 19 2,351,000
95 Buffalo NY 135 48 101 1,133,800
96 Clarksville TN 28 46 185 278,100
97 Syracuse NY 153 78 87 662,400
98 Memphis TN 25 153 133 1,327,300
99 Santa Ana, CA 169 181 24 3,059,000
100 Peoria IL 86 74 123 379,500

  


TOP OF PAGE
Note 1.  Source: Forbes Best Places For Business And Careers  for all 200 cities ranked & their Methodology
 
Click for FREE sample of Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter

Return to KirkLindstrom.com home page
  		 
Blog
Disclaimer:  The information contained in this web site is not intended to constitute financial advice, and is not a recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell or hold any security. This blog is strictly informational and educational and is not to be construed as any kind of financial advice, investment advice or legal advice. Copyright © Kirk Lindstrom. Note: "CORE & Explore®" was coined by and is a registered trademark of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.