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Raleigh Falls From Top Spot in Forbes Best Cities for Jobs List

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By Rick Smith, WRAL Local Tech Wire Editor

RALEIGH – Is the job market in the Triangle cooling off? Forbes thinks so.

In its latest ranking of top cities for jobs, the Raleigh metro area dropped to ninth for 2007. Thus ends Raleigh’s two-year reign as No. 1 in the Forbes ranking.

The Capital City’s rating in four of the five key statistical categories tracked by Forbes, including household income and income growth, fell compared to earlier statistics, thus triggering the drop.

To those who track such rankings, such as industrial recruiters and economic developers, the new ranking shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. In a revised list for 2006 statistics released last October, the City of Oaks was felled from No. 1 to No. 2 by fast-growing Salt Lake City.

However, while Salt Lake City remained first in the 2007 rankings released last week, Raleigh dropped big time.

Atlanta, meanwhile, placed fourth. Other cities in the region faring way in the rankings were Charlotte (50th), Columbia (31st), Greenville S.C. (37th) and Greensboro (66th).

Unemployment in the Triangle remains extremely low – under 4 percent in Raleigh/Cary and in Durham. But Forbes’ criteria measures much more than jobs statistics.

In the five categories that Forbes measures, Raleigh ranked as follows vs. other metros:

• Median Household Income Rank: 54, down from 30th in October.

• Unemployment Rank: 22, down from 17th in October.

• Income Growth Rank: 23, down from 12th in October.

• Cost Of Living Rank: 46, slightly better than 47th in October.

• Job growth Rank: 19, down from 5th in October

Salt Lake City earned No. 1 by ranking 33rd in median household income, 2nd in unemployment, eighth in income growth, 41st in cost of living and eighth in job growth.

Atlanta took fourth place with its ranking of 18th in household income, 43rd in unemployment, 18th in income growth, 42nd in cost of living and 13th in job growth.

For the complete list, see the Forbes Web links.

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WRAL Local Tech Wire Publisher and Editor Rick Smith dishes out tidbits from the local technology sector. Read more articles…