Austin-Round Rock Area Recognized as #1 Best Performing City
Posted by James Brinkman on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 10:12pm.
Residents of the Austin-Round Rock area are well aware that the metro area is one of the best places in the country to live, but it is always nice to have these assertions confirmed by those who don't live there. Thanks to the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, residents of the Austin-Round Rock area can feel good in knowing that they are residents of the best performing city in the United States.
The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners recently released its 2009 list of Best Performing Cities Index and the Austin-Round Rock area topped the list. In creating the list, the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners considered a number of different factors. These included the area's ability to create and sustain jobs as well as overall employment levels, technology output and salary growth. Other Texas metro areas to make the list included:
• Killeen-Fort Hood-Temple (2nd place)
• McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (4th place)
• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (5th place)
The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area was also listed as one of the top five largest cities, while Midland was name as the number one small metro area.
According to Ross Devoll, who is the senior economist at the Milken Institute as well as the lead author of the report, Texas had such a strong showing in the survey due to its business climate as well as its tax codes. DeVoll also has a positive outlook for the state of Texas based on the legislation the state had already put into place along with recent legislation that has provided additional funding to research universities.
"Texas' strong position in our best performing cities study demonstrates that a favorable business climate, combined with a low-cost/low-tax environment, is highly supportive of job creation," DeVoll is reported as saying in an Austin Biz Journals article. "The state has diversified its economy by fostering several key high-tech clusters, and the passage of Proposition 4, allocating $500 million in funding for research universities, will make Texas an even more formidable competitor in the future."
With such strong support for businesses combined with taking action to increase research and educational initiatives, it is easy to see why the state of Texas has so many of its metro areas and cities included on the list. Thanks to its strong position within the technology sector as well as its numerous institutes of higher education and research, it is also easy to see why the Austin-Round Rock metro area received top honors on this very prestigious list.
The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners recently released its 2009 list of Best Performing Cities Index and the Austin-Round Rock area topped the list. In creating the list, the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners considered a number of different factors. These included the area's ability to create and sustain jobs as well as overall employment levels, technology output and salary growth. Other Texas metro areas to make the list included:
• Killeen-Fort Hood-Temple (2nd place)
• McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (4th place)
• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (5th place)
The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area was also listed as one of the top five largest cities, while Midland was name as the number one small metro area.
According to Ross Devoll, who is the senior economist at the Milken Institute as well as the lead author of the report, Texas had such a strong showing in the survey due to its business climate as well as its tax codes. DeVoll also has a positive outlook for the state of Texas based on the legislation the state had already put into place along with recent legislation that has provided additional funding to research universities.
"Texas' strong position in our best performing cities study demonstrates that a favorable business climate, combined with a low-cost/low-tax environment, is highly supportive of job creation," DeVoll is reported as saying in an Austin Biz Journals article. "The state has diversified its economy by fostering several key high-tech clusters, and the passage of Proposition 4, allocating $500 million in funding for research universities, will make Texas an even more formidable competitor in the future."
With such strong support for businesses combined with taking action to increase research and educational initiatives, it is easy to see why the state of Texas has so many of its metro areas and cities included on the list. Thanks to its strong position within the technology sector as well as its numerous institutes of higher education and research, it is also easy to see why the Austin-Round Rock metro area received top honors on this very prestigious list.