Looking for a home town where the job hunting is easy?

Steer clear of the high tech centers, but a variety of cities in the north, south, east, and west offer diverse, stable economies cranking out jobs even during hard times.

California, Texas and Florida cities are most often at the top of the heap, but job heavy cities can be found on every point of the compass according to "Best Performing Cities: Where America's Jobs Are Created," an index of employment centers conducted by the Milken Institute, a market and economic research firm with a focus on entrepreneurs.

The Milken index measures where jobs are being created, economies are growing and businesses are thriving and they are not tech meccas, but areas with substantial population growth and strong retail, government and health care industries.

The Top 20 Job Towns

• Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR
• Las Vegas, NV-AZ
• Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
• San Diego, CA
• San Luis Obispo-Atascadero, CA
• Laredo, TX
• Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, TX
• McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
• Monmouth-Ocean, NJ
• Anchorage, AK
• Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
• Chico-Paradise, CA
• Ventura, CA
• Sacramento, CA
• Houma, LA
• Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa, CA
• San Antonio, TX
• Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV
• Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

The index says a trend this year is the success of many cities where government and higher education play an important role in the local economy. Those industries are much less susceptible to business cycles.

The Best Performing Cities ranks 296 U.S. metro areas on a variety of factors.

Economic Dynamism Areas with a host of fast-growing "gazelle" companies, a diverse ecosystem, supported innovation and entrepreneurial capacity maintain economic dynamism.

Capital Access The availability of long-term capital for start-ups, primes the economic pump. Private equity and specialized venture capital (VC) firms can assist in business plan development, supply board members, lend management skills, suggest strategic partnerships and alliances, assist in expansion plans, and bring in key talent.

Human Capital People, well-educated people, are among a region's most valuable assets. Concentrations of talent attract firms looking for a location to set up shop. Knowledge, skills, experience and innovative potential offers greater value than capital equipment.

Innovation Capacity Regions with private, government and university-based research laboratories are key to economic development. R&D investments that strengthen local research efforts is attractive to both additional investors and firms seeking the latest innovations for the inherent competitive advantage.

Globalization/International Integration No city is an island -- especially in today's global economy. In a globalized world, success turns in part on a firm's ability to meet global quality standards and tap into a global distribution network; and, more importantly, on locating those regions that give them the best environment to exploit international opportunities. Regions that are connected to the world have a global reach to financial capital, human capital, innovation capacity and, eventually, expansion and growth.

Published: July 4, 2003

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.