The WSJ has a reprint of a Moody’s Economy.com article that lists what they feel are the top 50 metro areas ready for business growth. From the article:
Moody’s Economy.com has devised a Business Vitality Index that rates the overall economic vitality of a metro area by looking at a range of factors rather than just one measure. The index takes into account current economic conditions such as household income growth, factors that affect prospective conditions including labor availability and regional cost structure, and potential risks such as employment volatility.
I couldn’t find the article on their web site to link to, so here are the top 10. Not sure how they came up with some of these.
- Austin, Texas
- Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
- Corvallis, Ore.
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- Boise City, Idaho
- Orlando, Fla.
- Huntsville, Ala.
- Sioux Falls, S.D.
- Fargo, N.D.
Additionally, of interest to Engineers, they list the top 10 cities in terms of number of architectural and other engineers per 1,000 population in 2006:
- Huntsville, Ala – 41.4
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. – 31.2
- Boulder, Colo. – 28.0
- Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla. – 26.1
- Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Wash. – 22.9
- Ann Arbor, Mich. – 21.9
- Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin, Fla. – 20.3
- Sheboygan, Wis. – 18.4
- Albuquerque, N.M. – 16.6
- Holland-Grand Haven, Mich. – 16.0
- U.S. Average – 8.1