FORBES BEST CITIES FOR BUSINESS AND JOBS

Best Places For Business And Careers 04.05.07, 6:00 PM ET For a state with just over 8 million, NC seems to blow the competition away with 5 metros in the top 25 and 2 in the top 10. Amazing. Is it something in the water? Rank Metro/Cost Of Doing Business/Job Growth Educational Attainment/Population (thou) 1 Raleigh NC 27 35 12 978 2 Provo UT 67 17 30 465 3 Boise ID 19 19 84 560 4 Des Moines IA 49 64 50 531 5 Knoxville TN 14 49 88 662 6 Albuquerque NM 34 56 53 813 7 Durham NC 33 124 6 462 8 Fayetteville AR 11 8 140 417 9 Nashville TN 42 47 82 1,438 10 Olympia WA 113 21 40 233 11 Ogden UT 58 33 96 499 12 Gainesville FL 52 67 13 243 13 Naples FL 79 3 46 317 14 Richmond VA 26 72 64 1,193 15 Lincoln NE 15 114 24 284 16 Edison NJ 174 93 25 2,323 17 Tallahassee FL 81 68 16 339 18 Mercer County NJ 156 46 20 368 19 Omaha NE 69 113 60 821 20 Spokane WA 47 60 97 447 21 Charlotte NC 44 91 54 1,563 22 Tampa-St. Petersburg FL 104 26 129 2,691 23 Asheville NC 10 70 127 398 24 Winston-Salem NC 7 121 110 455 25 Atlanta GA 119 100 36 5,064>