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Some Central Valley cities improve on "Best Performing" list
Los Angeles
September 27, 2007 12:01AM
• But others plunge
• Still, most rank ahead of Midwest
For the third consecutive year, Florida metropolitan areas scored high on a list of the “best performing” cities in the country, compiled by the Milken Institute and funded by Greenstreet Real Estate Partners. Florida cities took three of the top six spots – including this year’s top-ranked metro, Ocala. But their hold on the Index loosened slightly as other cities rose in the annual ranking of where America’s jobs are being created and sustained.
Nationwide trends influenced many regional shifts, including a rebound in the tech sector (boosting metros in the San Francisco Bay Area, Salt Lake City, Utah and Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas), increasing global trade (pushing Wilmington, N.C., to 2nd place) and even the effects of migration as a result of Hurricane Katrina (particularly Lafayette and Baton Rouge, La.).
Central Valley cities had either a giddy ride up the list or a swift plunge toward its depths.
Bakersfield (Kern County) has jumped from 30th place on last year’s index to 17th nationally among the nation’s 200 largest metropolitan areas. It’s the highest place on this year’s list of any Central Valley city.
The Sacramento metro area also moved up, from 34th last year to 25th on this year’s list.
The Visalia-Porterville metro area is ranked 45th, up from 67th last year.
The Stockton metro area had the largest fall of any region in the Central Valley, tumbling from 31st place last year to 113th this year.
Other Central Valley metro areas falling include Fresno, which dropped from 40th last year to 66th this year and Modesto, from 47th to this year’s 115.
Still, Central Valley cities placed higher than larger, perhaps better known cities such as Detroit, Cincinnati and Cleveland.
On the Milkin rankings for 179 smaller metropolitan areas, Madera is placed ninth, a small drop from last year when it was in sixth place. Yuba City dropped from 18th in 2006 to 49th this year and Hanford-Corcoran fell from 29th to 55th this year. But Chico jumped up on the list, from 94th last year to 52nd this year.
The top 10 performers (with its last ranking, in 2005, in parentheses) of the 200 largest metros:
1. Ocala, Florida (13)
2. Wilmington, North Carolina (59)
3. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California (10)
4. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona (15)
5. Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida (6)
6. Naples-Marco Island, Florida (3)
7. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (7)
8. Provo-Orem, Utah (23)
9. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada (11)
10. Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina (45)
Biggest Movers: The biggest mover from last year is Lafayette, Louisiana, which jumped up 119 places (143rd to 24th) due to a post-Hurricane Katrina population influx. Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine, which fell 115 spots (from 42nd to 157th), is experiencing the early impacts of the base realignment and closure of the Naval Air Station in Brunswick.
The lowest performers on this year’s Index come from the industrial Midwest. Nine of the bottom 10 performers on the 200 largest cities ranking are from this area, including the lowest ranked metro, Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan.
The Milken list 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.
The current list reflects data collected from 2006. This contrasts with the 2005 Best Performing Cities Index, which reflected data collected in 2005, but was released in 2006. The re-designation merely reflects a change in the title, not a gap in the data, the institute says.
Source: Reprint from http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/
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