Large cities attract businesses and residents because their large employment base guarantees many jobs and generally higher wages, as well as providing access to entertainment and culture. But do these benefits make it a great place to work and live? For many city dwellers, the answer is yes. (Here is the best city to live in in each state.)
Size is not everything, of course. According to the World Population Review, the 10 largest cities in the US by population are (in that order): New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, and San Jose. In the Milken Institute’s ranking of the top performing cities nationwide for 2021, however, only three of them – Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose – were among the top 25 major cities.
What does it mean to be a top performing city? The Milken Institute, a not-for-profit think tank, has based its results on an index of “jobs, wages and high-tech growth, taking into account new measures for affordable housing and broadband access for households”.
To determine the top performing cities in America, Wall St. 24/7 reviewed the institute’s overall city performance ranking. Last year’s results for each city are also included in the report. (Total population numbers are from the US Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey 1-year estimates.)
The largest city on this list is Provo, Utah, home of Brigham Young University. Utah also took fourth place with Salt Lake City. Palm Bay, Florida, on the state’s Atlantic coast, ranks # 2. The top five include Austin, Texas (# 3) and Raleigh, North Carolina (# 5) – both known for their universities and concentration of tech companies .
Surprisingly, San Francisco was number 24 on the list – a dramatic drop from its number 1 position last year. (The Milken Institute attributes the decline to “the high cost of housing and a strong negative shift in short-term employment growth” …[which] may point to the oversized impact of the coronavirus pandemic on so-called ‘superstar cities’. ”(Sometimes smaller is better: These are the best small cities to start a business.)
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