Florida metro areas tops in U.S. job
gains, survey says
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Feb. 23,
2006 -- Looking for a job? Try
Florida, where jobs are being
created at a rapid pace. For the
second year in a row, Florida
metropolitan areas dominate the top
rankings of the Milken Institute
Best Performing Cities Index, a
measurement of where jobs are being
created in America.
The 2005 Index’s top three metro
areas are in Florida, led by Palm
Bay-Melbourne-Titusville at No. 1,
followed by last year’s top scorer,
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, and
Naples-Marco Island, in third place.
Even severe hurricane seasons could
not topple Florida’s growth trends.
The state’s metros hold not just the
index’s top three slots, but five of
its top six and 12 of its top 30.
Metros in the Southwest also do
well, with six ranked in the top 20.
The index ranks U.S. metros based on
their ability to create and sustain
jobs.
The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
area is located near the John F.
Kennedy Space Center and has a
diversified economy with many
aerospace and defense-related
industries, as well as space-related
tourism and a growing number of
retirees.
“The state is creating jobs at a
prodigious rate,” said Ross DeVol,
the Institute’s director of Regional
Economics and the report’s lead
author. “It has all the makings of a
job-creating machine: good weather,
low costs, a growing population, a
strong tourism industry and little
heavy manufacturing.”
The 2005 winners have similar
characteristics: strong and growing
service sectors, a robust recovery
in tourism, growing populations and
an increase in the number of
retirees. As evidence, six metros in
the top 20 come from the Southwest,
including three in California
(Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa
Ana) and two in Arizona (Tucson and
Phoenix). The other is Las Vegas.
By comparison, the Midwest has none.
The top-rated Midwest metro is
Madison, Wis., at 35th. Nine of the
bottom 10 spots on the index were
from the Midwest -- five from
Michigan and four from Ohio --
reflecting the region’s troubled
manufacturing sector. Flint, Mich.,
is at the bottom at No. 200.
The top 10 performers (with 2004
rankings in parentheses) of the 200
largest metros:
1. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville,
Fla. (31); 2. Cape Coral-Fort Myers,
Fla. (1); 3. Naples-Marco Island,
Fla. (15); 4.
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
(18); 5. Deltona-Daytona
Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla. (5); 6.
Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla. (29); 7.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria,
DC-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (11); 8.
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers,
Ark.-Mo. (7); 9. Fort
Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield
Beach, Fla. (9); and 10.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario,
Ca. (8).
Big-Cities Rankings: Thanks
to the presence of the federal
government and a dramatic increase
in the growth of technology firms in
the region, the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan area is the highest
ranked of America’s largest 10
cities, at No. 7, followed by
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario,
Calif. (10) and
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (15).
Small-Cities Rankings: In
what amounts to a clean sweep,
another Florida metro -- Fort Walton
Beach-Crestview-Destin -- also
ranked No. 1 on the Institute’s
separate listing of America’s
smallest 179 metros, followed by
Bend, Ore. (2), and Prescott, Ariz.
(3).
The biggest movers from last year
were Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash.,
which moved up 104 places (122nd to
18th), and Newark-Union, N.J.-Penn.,
which dropped 101 spots (39th to
140th).
Because of changes made to the
geographic definitions of
metropolitan statistical areas and
metropolitan divisions by the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget,
this year’s index has 379 metros --
61 more than last year. Many of the
boundaries have changed, which can
make comparisons to last year’s
ranking difficult in some cases.
The index ranks U.S. metros based on
their ability to create and sustain
jobs. It includes both long-term
(five years) and short-term (one
year) measurements of employment and
salary growth. There are also four
measurements of technology output
growth, which are included because
of technology’s crucial role in
regional economic growth.
For more information, go to the
Milken Institute's Web site at:
© 2006 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF
REALTORS
