Houston, other Texas metros among top 10 'Best-Performing Cities'

Once again, Texas dominates another metropolitan economic index.

The Milken Institute recently released itsBest-Performing Cities 2013 report, and the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area ranks No. 8 among 200 large cities.

That’s down four spots from last year, but the report found the city’s employment and wage growth remained strong.

The report focuses on where jobs are being created and sustained, but it does not factor in quality-of-life metrics, the California-based nonprofit think tank said. Many of the top metros have booming technology or energy sectors.

“Driven by oil and gas exploration, (Houston) ranked seventh in five-year job growth,” Milken writes. “Mining support and oil extraction created 11,000 jobs in 2011-2012 with benefits that rippled through the economy. Professional and scientific services saw one of the biggest gains at over 10,500 jobs.”

Meanwhile, Austin moved up one spot to rank No. 1, and Dallas takes the No. 7 spot. Seven Texas cities cracked the top 25, including San Antonio (No. 12), Fort Worth (No. 16), Corpus Christi (No. 17) and Laredo (No. 22). Colorado and California each took four spots on the top 25.

Here are the top 10 metros:

1. Austin
2. Provo, Utah
3. San Francisco
4. San Jose, Calif.
5. Salt Lake City
6. Seattle
7. Dallas
8. Houston
9. Boulder, Colo.
10. Greenley, Colo.

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