Posted on 07/07/2011 7:00:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
What cities are best positioned to grow and prosper in the coming decade?
To determine the next boom towns in the U.S., Forbes, with the help of Mark Schill at the Praxis Strategy Group, took the 52 largest metro areas in the country (those with populations exceeding 1 million) and ranked them based on various data indicating past, present and future vitality.
We started with job growth, not only looking at performance over the past decade but also focusing on growth in the past two years, to account for the possible long-term effects of the Great Recession. That accounted for roughly one-third of the score. The other two-thirds were made up of a a broad range of demographic factors, all weighted equally. These included rates of family formation (percentage growth in children 5-17), growth in educated migration, population growth and, finally, a broad measurement of attractiveness to immigrants as places to settle, make money and start businesses.
We focused on these demographic factors because college-educated migrants (who also tend to be under 30), new families and immigrants will be critical in shaping the future. Areas that are rapidly losing young families and low rates of migration among educated migrants are the American equivalents of rapidly aging countries like Japan; those with more sprightly demographics are akin to up and coming countries such as Vietnam.
Many of our top performers are not surprising. No. 1 Austin, Texas, and No. 2 Raleigh, N.C., have it all demographically: high rates of immigration and migration of educated workers and healthy increases in population and number of children. They are also economic superstars, with job-creation records among the best in the nation.
Perhaps less expected is the No. 3 ranking for Nashville, Tenn.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
PHOTO GALLERY OF THE NEXT BIGGEST BOOM TOWNS IN THE US CAN BE FOUND HERE :
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/edgl45fkm/no-1-austin-texas#content
Actually, Austin is a very bad place to live, so don’t come here.
While the country clearly needs growth, at this stage in my life I’m looking for peace and quiet. The county in Alabama that I have my eye on has a population of 31,000.
Just about perfect. Oh, and ROLL TIDE.
RE: Actually, Austin is a very bad place to live, so dont come here.
LOL, so what’s stopping you from moving outa there?
We're ready to re-educate all libs coming to our great state that are looking for work. Seriously, though, families moving to TX from CA better be ready to work harder in school to catch up. I've been told that CA high-schoolers are 1-2 years behind TX high-schoolers.
And watch out when they move into our "Type A" communities. In the Metroplex, everything is taken seriously: sports, band, drill team, cheerleading, academics, everything. I've never seen anything like it.
First, they'll have to survive our summers! LOL!
Why can’t they just post the damn list? Maybe with a little paragraph explaining why each one is in the place it is? Why write an article? Why do a clumsy photo gallery of the top 9 or whatever?
That really annoys me, too. I think they want you to click through to maximize the ad revenue from each page.
how is that list different from the CURRENT big boom towns?
Asinine, illegal immigrant worshipping crony capitalist hogwash. Texas and Phoenix are awesome because of their high levels of “immigrants” and “educated migrants”, yet Los Angeles, the former “boom town”, now ranked near the bottom, is there precisely because of the criteria presented as desirable in the article.
You can track the decline of Los Angeles and so. cal. as illegal immigrant population rises.
Forbes and other statists, crony capitalists, and ruling class elites on Los Angeles: “My work is done here”.
Well, I can put up with it—but it’s hard-—LOL!
The author has obviously never been to Charlotte. We've got your gridlocks, your crappy schools, crime, high state income and sales taxes, incompetent politicians, slightly right of Mao newspaper and some of the worst cell service in the US (parts of Nevada may have worse).
For a number of years the city of Round Rock, just North of Austin has been the fastest growing city in Texas. My daughter and son-in-law lived there until they moved across town to Hutto. Reason for growth: Dell Computer.
Come on down to the Missouri Ozarks. Low taxes, low cost of living, deer, fish, turkey in plentiful supply. Good water, mild climate (except for hot summertime.) Own a gun ? Bring it.
RE: how is that list different from the CURRENT big boom towns?
Come to think of it, you’re right. Cities like Austin and Raleigh have been on the top 10 list since as far as I can remember. Las Vegas used to be on the list but has since been dropped.
Californians moving into Texas will ruin it. First they start getting into the PTAâs then city councils and before you know it they all turn out to be environmentalists, gay activists, socialists, and all manner of big government parasites. the reason they are moving out of California is because they already sucked all the life out of it.
RE: Hmm where is my Pittsburgh
How’s the weather like in your part of town?
I have plenty of folks I know whose children go to Grove City College just an hour from Pittsburgh. The kids use to go there during the weekends just to have a good time ( although I wonder what’s there to do at night... ).
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