The Houston area fared reasonably well in Forbes magazine’s 2005 ranking of the best places for businesses and careers among U.S. metropolitan areas (populations over 345,000).
Houston ranked 13th out of 150 metropolitan areas evaluated in the survey, which primarily focuses on the potential for businesses to maintain low costs and to attract the best workers. Boise, Idaho was ranked the best among large metropolitan areas followed by Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Austin. Inasmuch as Texas and Virginia have well-educated labor forces and relatively low business costs, those states placed seven areas in the top 20 of the metro areas while no other state had more than one. Dallas (19th) and Fort Worth (20th) joined Austin and Houston as Texas cities in the top 20 metro areas.
In the 168 cities ranked in the smaller metro areas category, Brazoria County ranked 18th, Bryan-College Station 15th, and Galveston 82nd. My old hometown of Iowa City, Iowa came in ninth in that category. Check out the survey and see how your city ranks.