Region’s communities win listings in “Best-Performing Cities 2014”

Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties all factored into the top 20 on the Milken Institute’s annual report “Best-Performing Cities 2014: Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained.”

The Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based nonprofit think tank, ranked metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions based on such metrics as job growth, wage growth and technology performance.

The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield MSA landed 12^th on the list of the top 200 large cities, one spot ahead of the Boulder MSA (Boulder County) and two spots ahead of the Greeley MSA (Weld County). The Fort Collins-Loveland MSA (Larimer County) came in 17^th.

Boulder and Weld counties slid four spots each after both notching top-10 spots in the rankings last year. Larimer County climbed three spots.

Weld County, bolstered by a booming energy industry, ranked second in both one-year and five-year job growth, and seventh in one-year wage growth. Boulder County, meanwhile, ranked first for concentration of high-tech industries.

Tech and energy-rich cities dominated the list.

San Francisco topped the list, unseating last year’s No. 1 Austin, Texas, which fell to No. 2. Texas, Utah and California accounted for nine of the 10 top spots, with Texas snaring five.

Many of the Best-Performing Cities of 2014 possess what we call the ‘innovation advantage,’” Milken chief research officer Ross DeVol said in a statement. “Cities like San Francisco and San Jose are able to offset high costs, an unfavorable tax structure, and a burdensome regulatory environment, thanks to the clustering of talent and technology in an entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

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