places for business and careers::A lot of it comes down to lost jobs: the national unemployment rate recently jumped to 6 percent, from less than 4 percent three years ago places for business and careers

places for business and careers::A lot of it comes down to lost jobs: the national unemployment rate recently jumped to 6 percent, from less than 4 percent three years ago.
To reflect these changing times, we changed the way we compile our ranking of best places for business and careers, turning to analysts at economy.
Com, the west chester, pa.
Based economic and financial research firm.
In this, our fifth annual survey, we still kept a careful eye on income and job growth.
For the first time our rankings also characterized the attractiveness of a region by figuring in crime rates, housing costs and net migration.
For detailed information on each of the 150 largest metro areas, go to www.
There you will also find a ranking of 168 smaller metro areas, along with information about them.
Austin, texas population: 1,313,000 job growth: 3.
And if you consider net migration to an area as an indicator of how alluring it is, austin shines, ranking third in the country, at 2.
Boise, idaho population: 452,000 job growth: 3.
The tight labor supply has loosened over the past three years, with unemployment jumping to 5.
Population: 1,232,000 job growth: 2.