Here are the Best-Performing US Cities According to the Milken Institute

Each year the  Milken Institute evaluates the performance of 403 metropolitan areas across the country to determine which are the Best Performing Cities (BPC). This year it put the issues of economic growth, affordability, and a city’s resilience and sustainability, both to natural and economic disasters, at the forefront as it developed its ranking. Income inequality (with cities with lower inequality ranked higher) are incorporated in this year’s rankings, too.

The best-performing large city is Austin-Round Rock, Texas. It received this recognition for the first time since 2013, largely due to its rapid growth in jobs, wages, and high tech.

After three years as the top large metro area, Provo-Orem, Utah, remains among the top five large metropolitan areas in the country. While the area has experienced declines in job and wage growth due to recent tech layoffs, the area retains many advantages, including the establishment of new businesses. All signals indicate future growth in this area. Salt Lake City, Utah also made the top-five list this year.

Charleston-North Charleston, South Caroline is the only top-tier city along a coastline in this year’s rankings.

Finally, three of the large metros experiencing the biggest gains in this year’s rankings are Elgin, Illinois, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, and Richmond, Virginia. These three areas saw growth in jobs and wages driven by the hospitality industry, following the industry’s continued recovery from the pandemic. Recovery specifically in the leisure and hospitality sector is expected to continue in years to come, driving economic growth.

In the small city sector, Idaho Falls, Idaho took the top position for the second year in a row. This marks the third time in the top spot over the past five rankings for Idaho Falls, a city that has reportedly seen balanced growth across all aspects of the rankings.

In addition, four of the seven top-tier small metros, Idaho Falls, Coeur d’Alene, Twin Falls, and Pocatello, are all located in Idaho. These small cities in Idaho all ranked high in the areas of five-year job and wage growth, and a growing high-tech sector. They all experienced high rankings on resilience and income distribution metrics, too.

Finally, among the top-10 ranking small cities, Wenatchee, Washington showed the most progress in broadband coverage, increasing its percentage of households with broadband internet by 7.0 percentage points. Twin Falls, Idaho, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Jacksonville, North Carolina all showed significant gains in this area, too.