Austin, Dallas land high on best-performing cities list

​SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Two Texas cities took top spots in the Milken Institute’s annual survey of the best-performing cities in the U.S. 

Austin took third place in the analysis, up six spots from last year. Dallas dropped two spots to fifth. 

According to the report, the Texas capital added nearly 5,000 jobs in its professional, scientific, and tech-services sectors last year. 

The annual analysis of 200 large metros takes into account job growth, wage and salary growth, and high-tech GDP growth, among other factors.

The rest of the top ten rankings are:

• No. 1 Provo-Orem, Utah;

• No. 2 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.;

• No. 4 San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, Calif.;

• No. 6 Raleigh, N.C.;

• No. 7 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.;

• No. 8 Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.;

• No. 9 Fort Collins, Colo.; and

• No. 10 Salt Lake City, Utah​

The report cites higher competition for talent among firms and rising housing costs in coastal regions as a factor in rising prosperity for inland cities but notes that those very same inland cities are beginning to catch a glimpse of the hurdles faced on the coasts.