Raleigh NC Ranked #2 Next Big Boom Town

Raleigh NC Ranked No. 2 "Big Boom" Town In Next Decade According To Forbes

Raleigh NC has experienced the 2nd-highest overall population increase and the 3rd-highest job growth over the past two decades in the United States. It also ranked among those regions seeing the biggest jump in new immigrants and is the No. 1 city for families with young children. The area is a magnet for technology companies fleeing the more expensive, congested and highly regulated northeast corridor. Affordable housing & short commute times are no doubt highly attractive to recent college graduates and millennials looking to start families.

To determine the next boom towns in the U.S., Forbes took the 52 largest metro areas in the country (those with populations exceeding 1 million) and ranked them based on various data indicating past, present & future vitality.

POSTEROUS_MORE

They 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 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.

Source: The Next Big Boom Towns in USA : Raleigh NC