Cary NC - Real Estate Blog  - There was a whole lot of shaking going on in 2009 -- job losses, volatile markets, recovery packages, a new president. But in surprising contrast to that, the rankings for top cities this year remained fairly steady.
"None of [the top 10] had a meteoric rise over the last year. Most of them went up and the couple that dropped did not drop dramatically," commented Kevin Klowden, managing economist at the Milken Institute, and co-author of Best-Performing Cities 2009 report. "The fact remains essentially that there are certain locations that have advantages in terms of lower costs, improved access to talent, certain key industry resources, and other factors that help to drive things."

The Milken Institute's report highlights the fact that the top cities didn't experience the same inflation in housing prices as the rest of the country, and so they avoided the devastating correction experienced elsewhere. Another factor in success was a prominence of the oil and gas industry. These two came together favorably for Texas, whose cities took five of the top 10 rankings.  These are the factors that make the homes for sale in Cary NC so attractive.

All top performers, however, showed only mild increases in employment, if any at all. High marks in 2009 reflect how well a city's economic infrastructure weathered the storm, so it is important to look at a city's performance relative to the nation and other metro areas -- 2009 is not the year to focus on the numbers alone.

The Milken Institute rankings are based on a variety of factors, two of which include job and salary growth trends. Put together, these factors demonstrated a well-balanced local economy that should remain strong into the next year and likely beyond that for the following top 10 cities for jobs. Also listed is an example job position and its median annual salary in each town, according to online salary database PayScale.com.

6. Durham, North Carolina (pop. 490,000)
Last year's rank: 21
2009 Job growth: -1.75%

Making an even bigger jump up the list is Durham with its strength in technology, biopharmaceutical, medical research, and higher education. This area is a hotspot for young professionals, which has spurred positive population growth and has helped mitigate the effects of falling property prices. Most recently, communication technology company Nortel Network's bankruptcy has caused some hardship and layoffs, but the strength of the health and education industries has given Durham the balance needed to get through economic difficulties smoothly. Research laboratory technician - $42,800

10. Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina (pop. 1,089,000)
Last year's rank: 2
2009 Job growth: -3.36%

This metropolitan area's economy is founded on a strong base that educational and research institutions have created with the business community. It has laid the groundwork for Raleigh's strong technology, biopharmaceutical, and professional and business services industries. There seems to be a little bit of rough road ahead with state budget constraints leading to cutbacks, and looming changes to the pharmaceutical industry. However, Raleigh is expected to fare much better than other major centers during the readjustment and recovery. Information technology (IT) manager- $80,700

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