Not surprisingly, the best run cities in the country are not in California nor in Contra Costa County.
The 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best-Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary and technology growth. See the full report.
TOP TEN LARGE METRO CITIES
1 Austin-Round Rock, TX MSA
2 Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
3 Salt Lake City, UT MSA
4 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX MSA
5 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA
6. Durham, NC MSA
7. Olympia, WA MSA
8. Huntsville, AL MSA
9. Lafayette, LA MSA
10. Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA
TOP FIVE METRO AREAS IN CALIFORNIA
36. Bakersfield
115. Fresno
139. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Gendale
145. Oakland
158. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
184. Merced
159. Modesto
TOP PERFORMING CALIFORNIA CITIES IN SMALL METRO AREAS
76. Napa
94. Chico
113. Redding