Forbes Best Places for Business and Careers

Nashville, Tennessee ranked number 6 of 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S.

Forbes ranking of Best Places for Business and Careers looked at the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. These range in size from the New York City metro, with to 11.6 million people, to Laredo, Texas, home to 252,000 people.

They considered 12 metrics relating to job growth (past and projected), costs (business and living), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth. They also factor in quality of life issues like crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration pat-terns. Lastly they included the num-ber of highly ranked colleges in an area per our annual college rankings.

The recession spared few U.S. cities, wiping out 9.4 million jobs between November 2007 and August 2009. Many will never return, and those that do you probably won’t find on the East or West Coast. For the most active areas of job creation (and low-er costs of doing business) you have to go to the heartland, home to 80% of the top 25 regions on their list of Best Places for Business.

In most of these hot hubs you’ll find a strong university or two, providing rich cultural life and the kind of tech-nology transfer that sparks entrepre-neurial activity—giving that educated population lots of reasons to stick around.

The List:
1. Raleigh, North Carolina
2. Des Moines, Iowa
3. Provo, Utah
4. Lexington, Kentucky
5. Fort Collins, Colorado
6. Nashville, Tennessee
7. Austin, Texas
8. San Antonio, Texas
9. Denver, Colorado
10. Dallas, Texas
………………………………..
45. New York City, New York
64. San Diego, California
80. Chicago, Illinois
98. Long Island, New York
114. Los Angeles, California