Over at NewGeography.com Joel Kotkin explores the topic of cities that are “best positioned to grow and prosper in the coming decade.”
Of the 52 metro areas studied only Providence (RI-MA), Detroit and Cleveland ranked lower than Chicago, which was tied with Los Angeles for 47th place.
How were the rankings determined?
We started with job growth, not only looking at performance over the past decade but also focusing on growth in the past two years, to account for the possible long-term effects of the Great Recession. That accounted for roughly one-third of the score. The other two-thirds were made up of a broad range of demographic factors, all weighted equally. These included rates of family formation (percentage growth in children 5-17), growth in educated migration, population growth and, finally, a broad measurement of attractiveness to immigrants — as places to settle, make money and start businesses.