Milken Institute Release Survey of Best Performing Cities

The Milken Institute recently released its annual survey of Best Performing Cities.

The Best-Performing Cities index includes measures of job, wage, and technology performance to rank the nation’s 200 large metropolitan areas. Unlike other “best places” rankings, it does not use quality-of-life metrics, such as commute times or housing costs. In the Institute’s index, employment growth is weighted most heavily due to its critical importance to community vitality. Wage and salary growth measures the quality of jobs created and sustained. In addition to the 200 largest metros, the Milken Institute research also looked at 179 small metros.

New England cities in the 200 largest metros list, listed by 2011 rank:

   #12 - Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA (last year - #22)

   #40 – Peabody, MA (last year - #75)

   #41 – Worcester, MA (last year - #129)

   #53 – Boston-Quincy, MA (last year - #42)

   #57 – Springfield, MA (last year - #127)

   #78 – Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, ME (last year - #137)

   #82 – Rockingham County-Strafford County, NH (last year – #81)

   #97 – Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT (last year - #85)

   #110 – Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA (last year - #175)

   #122 – Norwich-New London, CT (last year - #91)

   #158 – Manchester-Nashua, NH (last year - #90)

   #169 – Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT (last year - #111)

   #170 – New Haven-Milford, CT (last year - #153)

New England cities in the 179 smallest metros list, listed by 2011 rank:

   #26 – Burlington-South Burlington, VT (last year - #71)

   #84 – Bangor, ME (last year - #119)

   #97 – Barnstable Town, MA (last year - #96)

   #126 – Lewiston-Auburn, ME (last year - #123)

To access report information, please visit:

Milken Institute: 200 Largest Metros List

Milken Institute: 179 Smallest Metros List

Background information:

The Milken Institute