“To have Temple-Killeen-Fort Hood outrank cities like Dallas and Houston is very, very impressive for us,” said Lee Peterson, president of the Temple Economic Development Corp.
The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best-Perfor ming Cities Index ranks metro areas by how well they are creating and retaining jobs and economic growth.
Last year, this MSA ranked 30th.
In Texas, only the Austin and McAllen areas performed better than Temple-Killeen-Fort Hood on the index. San Antonio ranked 15th, Houston ranked 16th, Dallas ranked 23rd and Fort Worth was 29th.
“Of course, we’d like to be in the top 10,” Peterson said, “but we’re rubbing shoulders with some great places to live and work.”
Some measures included in the index could use improvement, he said, and those will be worked on.
During the past year, jobs growth has been particularly visible in retail and at companies such as Acer.
