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These are the best-performing cities in America, report says

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Published  January 17, 2025 1:15pm EST
Economy
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The Brief

    • An new report shows which U.S. cities are booming, and which ones are lagging.

This year’s best-performing cities span from coast to coast, but they all have at least a few things in common: a strong job market and affordable housing, according to a new report by the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank. 

The Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities report, published annually since 1999, measures cities’ effectiveness at promoting economic growth and access to services needed for higher quality of life. 

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Cities are judged on job creation, wage growth and the high-tech sector’s output growth, as well as access to economic opportunities, including housing affordability and broadband coverage.  

How cities are ranked

By the numbers:

The index looks at economic vitality in 200 large metropolitan areas and 203 small metropolitan areas by assessing the labor market, tech sector and access to economic opportunities. This year’s index places a strong focus on jobs, wages, high-tech growth, housing affordability, broadband coverage, community resilience and income inequality.   

Large cities and small cities are then classified into five tiers, with Tier 1 being the highest-ranked cities and Tier 5 being the lowest-ranked cities. Click here for an interactive map. 

An aerial view of the downtown Raleigh area including PNC Plaza (center) on April 21, 2013 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)

2025 best-performing large cities

  • Raleigh, NC (ranked 1 out of 200)
  • Ogden–Clearfield, UT (ranked 2 out of 200)
  • Salt Lake City, UT (ranked 3 out of 200)
  • Huntsville, AL (ranked 4 out of 200)
  • Colorado Springs, CO (ranked 5 out of 200)
  • Austin–Round Rock, TX (ranked 6 out of 200)
  • Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers, AR–MO (ranked 7 out of 200)
  • Olympia–Tumwater, WA (ranked 8 out of 200)
  • Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, FL (ranked 9 out of 200)
  • Boise City, ID (ranked 10 out of 200)
  • Charleston–North Charleston, SC (ranked 11 out of 200)
  • Myrtle Beach–Conway–North Myrtle Beach, SC–NC (ranked 12 out of 200)

2025 best-performing small cities

  • Gainesville, GA (ranked 1 out of 203)
  • St. George, UT (ranked 2 out of 203)
  • Idaho Falls, ID (ranked 3 out of 203)
  • Bend–Redmond, OR (ranked 4 out of 203)
  • Midland, TX (ranked 5 out of 203)
  • Jefferson City, MO (ranked 6 out of 203)
  • Coeur d'Alene, ID (ranked 7 out of 203)
  • Jacksonville, NC (ranked 8 out of 203)
  • Missoula, MT (ranked 9 out of 203)
  • Auburn–Opelika, AL (ranked 10 out of 203)
  • The Villages, FL (ranked 11 out of 203)
  • Winchester, VA–WV (ranked 12 out of 203)

2025 worst-performing cities

  • Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC (ranked 190 out of 200)
  • Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MSA (ranked 191 out of 200)
  • Columbus, GA (ranked 192 out of 200)
  • Springfield, MA MSA (ranked 193 out of 200)
  • Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA (ranked 194 out of 200)
  • Mobile, AL MSA (ranked 195 out of 200)
  • Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA (ranked 196 out of 200)
  • Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI MD (ranked 197 out of 200)
  • Lafayette, LA MSA (ranked 198 out of 200)
  • Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA MSA (ranked 199 out of 200)
  • New Orleans, LA (ranked 200 out of 200)

2025 worst-performing small cities

  • Battle Creek, MI MSA (ranked 195 out of 203)
  • Enid, OK MSA (ranked 196 out of 203)
  • Valdosta, GA (ranked 197 out of 203)
  • Kokomo, IN MSA (ranked 198 out of 203)
  • Ithaca, NY MSA (ranked 199 out of 203)
  • Danville, IL MSA (ranked 200 out of 203)Albany, GA (ranked 201 out of 203)
  • Elkhart-Goshen, IN MSA (ranked 202 out of 203)
  • Macon-Bibb County, GA MSA (ranked 203 out of 203)

Key findings

Dig deeper:

Raleigh, North Carolina, ranked No. 1 on the large cities list, took the top spot because of its strong employment conditions and robust high-tech sector. Gainesville, Georgia, which ranked first among small cities, sustained high scores across many metrics, the report said.

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Tulsa, Oklahoma, improved the most over last year, rising 99 places to No. 86, driven by robust labor market conditions. Oklahoma City had the second-largest increase in the rankings.

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San Francisco experienced the sharpest decline, dropping 99 places to No. 126. Analysts blamed a sharp downturn in the tech sector. 

The Source: This report includes information from the 2025 Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities report.

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