HOW THE CITIES WERE RANKED Like our annual states report, this ranking of metropolitan areas is based on three factors: job generation, rate of significant new business start-ups, and the percent of young companies enjoying high growth rates. For each factor, each metropolitan area was assigned a score from 1 to 33.33 reflecting its relative standing among all cities in the United States: the overall rank of a city was based on the sum of the three scores, with 100 as the highest possible score.

Metropolitan areas were defined as counties or groups of counties closely related by commuting patterns. In general, a densely settled suburban county was grouped with an urban county if 15% of its residents reported working in the city. By this method, 89% of the metropolitan areas corresponded to the metropolitan statistical areas used by the federal government.

Job data were supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for private and civilian public-sector employment gains or losses between November 1981 and November 1985. Data on companies were compiled by Cognetics Inc., in Cambridge, Mass.

The rate of significant new business births was derived by dividing the total number of business establishments in an area by the number of companies founded since 1982 that had 10 or more employees by January 1986. The number of high-growth companies was figured as a percentage of all companies founded since 1978. For each company, an index was calculated by multiplying its absolute growth in employment between 1982 and 1986 by its percentage of employment growth during the same period. Figuring growth in this way eliminated any bias in favor of large companies (which might have high absolute numbers) or small ones (which might have high percentages of change). Companies with an index of 20 or higher were classified as high growth.

INC.'s metro rankings were prepared under the direction of special projects editor Sara Baer-Sinnott. For information on reprints, call Elizabeth Longsworth at (800) 372-0018.

METRO RANKING/THE TOP 50

% of Fast-

Growth Business Growing Total

Rank/Area In Jobs Birthrate Companies Score

1. Austin, TX 44.3 % 7.3 % 4.7 % 99.22

2. Orlando, FL 40.5 4.2 3.6 73.37

3. Phoenix, AZ 32.3 4.9 3.6 72.72

4. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 22.4 5.2 4.0 72.23

5. Tucson, AZ 27.3 3.8 4.2 69.31

6. San Antonio, TX 19.9 4.5 4.2 69.02

7. Raleigh-Durham, NC 34.7 3.7 3.6 67.96

8. Manchester-Nashua, NH 24.6 2.7 4.8 67.11

9. Atlanta, GA 30.0 3.9 3.6 66.54

10. Huntsville, AL 35.3 3.7 3.1 64.40

11. Washington, DC 26.5 3.5 3.6 62.82

12. Albuquerque, NM 26.9 2.9 3.8 61.55

13. San Diego, CA 24.9 3.7 3.3 60.67

14. Charleston, SC 20.5 3.3 3.8 60.27

15. Nashville, TN 21.3 3.2 3.8 60.19

16. Jacksonville, FL 25.9 2.9 3.6 59.51

17. Melbourne-Titusville, FL 33.0 2.6 3.1 57.76

18. Tallahassee, FL 23.7 2.9 3.4 56.83

19. El Paso, TX 3.1 5.1 3.3 56.57

20. Portsmouth-Dover, NH 22.4 2.3 3.6 54.77

21. Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA 23.4 3.1 3.0 54.61

22. Fort Myers, FL 30.6 3.2 2.4 54.14

23. Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL 27.7 3.4 2.4 53.67

24. South Bend, IN 13.4 3.1 3.4 52.61

25. Boston, MA 12.7 2.3 3.9 52.13

26. Memphis, TN 15.6 2.5 3.5 51.50

27. Colorado Springs, CO 21.3 3.3 2.6 51.45

28. Sarasota, FL 29.2 2.8 2.4 51.43

29. Denver, CO 9.7 3.7 3.1 51.41

30. Augusta, GA 22.1 2.0 3.3 50.77

31. Pensacola, FL 17.9 3.2 2.6 49.26

32. Wilmington, DE 16.6 2.1 3.4 49.26

33. Sacramento, CA 25.8 2.7 2.4 49.23

34. Fort Wayne, IN 10.0 2.4 3.6 48.96

35. San Francisco, CA 12.0 2.6 3.3 48.63

36. Salt Lake City, UT 14.2 2.8 3.0 48.43

37. Los Angeles, CA 12.1 3.0 3.0 48.38

38. Columbia, SC 21.1 2.9 2.4 47.84

39. Savannah, GA 10.9 2.5 3.3 47.61

40. Columbus, OH 15.2 2.6 2.9 47.19

41. Houston, TX -8.7 4.4 3.3 47.07

42. Santa Barbara, CA 17.6 2.1 3.0 46.72

43. Baltimore, MD 12.6 2.5 3.0 46.12

44. Kansas City, MO 11.6 2.7 2.9 45.84

45. Baton Rouge, LA -0.2 3.3 3.2 45.15

46. Bridgeport-Stamford, CT 9.0 2.2 3.3 45.12

47. Las Vegas, NV 11.3 3.5 2.3 45.05

48. Madison, WI 12.2 2.7 2.7 44.62

49. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 11.8 2.4 2.9 44.49

50. Detroit, MI 19.8 2.2 2.5 44.46

METRO RANKING/THE BOTTOM 20

% of Fast-

Growth Business Growing Total

Rank/Area In Jobs Birthrate Companies Score

135. Allentown-Bethlehem, PA 0.2 % 1.6 % 2.1 % 28.45

136. Flint, MI 4.7 1.9 1.6 28.38

137. Eugene, OR 6.4 1.7 1.6 28.26

138. Utica-Rome, NY 2.5 1.1 2.2 27.87

139. Youngstown, OH 6.2 2.1 2.1 27.69

140. Scranton, PA 5.1 1.4 1.8 27.62

141. Pittsburgh, PA -6.7 1.9 2.2 27.19

142. Saginaw-Bay City, MI -2.5 1.6 2.1 27.05

143. Erie, PA -0.4 1.7 1.8 26.32

144. Reading, PA 5.1 1.3 1.5 24.81

145. Cedar Rapids, IA 2.1 1.4 1.6 24.56

146. Johnstown-Altoona, PA -1.3 1.5 1.7 24.08

147. Beaumont, TX -19.3 2.4 2.3 24.05

148. Johnson City, TN 6.5 1.7 1.0 23.68

149. Springfield-Decatur, IL 7.1 1.4 1.1 23.23

150. Charleston, WV -5.8 2.1 1.4 22.47

151. Davenport, IA -5.9 1.7 1.5 21.22

152. Huntington, WV -8.4 1.8 1.4 19.70

153. Peoria, IL -12.1 1.6 1.0 13.75

154. Duluth, MN -13.6 1.6 1.1 13.74

CORRECTION-DATE: June, 1987

CORRECTION:

In a chart on page 51 of "Metro Report" (April), growth in jobs for Youngstown, Ohio, was reported as a 6.2% gain when it was actually a 6.2% loss.