Local News

SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News, Milken Institute) – Milken Institute just released its "Best-Performing Cities" index for 2011, and Texas is everywhere you look.

Nine Texas MSAs landed in the top 25 on the institute's list of 200 largest metros, and four of those ranked in the top five, including number one San Antonio.

Others on the list were El Paso (2), Austin–Round Rock (4), Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood (5), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (16), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (18), Dallas-Plano-Irving (20), Fort Worth-Arlington (24) and Lubbock (25).

The state's smaller metros didn't do too shabby either, with five among the top 25: College Station-Bryan (4), Longview (9), Waco (12), Tyler (20) and Midland (22).

While it's good news for Texas to do so well on in index that is based largely on employment growth, Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines said the state looked good mainly because other states didn't.

“Our growth rate and advancement isn't all that wonderful,” Gaines told the San Antonio Express-News. “We've managed to stay flat or have very small positives. But because everybody has so many negatives, we look so much better.”

Texas accounted for one in every five jobs created in the country between June 2010 and June 2011, reported the Express-News. Houston and Dallas alone were responsible for one in every ten new jobs in the country.