Raleigh Ranks #3 on Forbes Best Places for Business & Careers

Forbes just released its 12^th annual ranking of the Best Places for Business and Careers and Raleigh made the list at #3! Being the first East Coast city on this years list, Raleigh ranked higher than the three other North Carolina cities to make the list: Charlotte (#17), Asheville (#21) and Durham (#23).

Raleigh was ranked #1 on last year's list, but fell to #3 this year. Incomes fell 5.9% and unemployment averaged 8.6% for the year, compared with 4.9% in 2008. "The recession has hit the area hard, with the restructuring in the pharmaceutical industry and with dry credit markets greatly reducing access to financing for startup firms," says Economy.com economist Jimmy Jean.

In determining the results, Forbes looked at the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., which range in size from the New York City metro, with 11.7 million people, to Merced, Calif., home to 245,000. Forbes ranked areas on 12 metrics including costs (business and living), job growth (past and projected), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth. Other factors used to create the list included the quality-of-life issues like crime, cultural and recreational opportunities as well as net migration patters. And lastly, Forbes examined the percentage of subprime mortgages handed out over a three-year stretch and the number of highly ranked four-year colleges in the area, per their annual college rankings.

Source: (Forbes.com)