Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin made the top 20 list of cities in Policom’s 2010 Economic Strength Rankings report.  The report, which is published annually and uses data going back to 1989, focuses on long-term trends inside of 366 different Metropolitan Statistical Areas.  Volatility is a main consideration in terms of how the areas behave over time.

• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown ranked 4^th
• Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranked 10^th
• Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos ranked 12^th

The report can be found here

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A report just out by Newgeography.com shows that Texas has again held top spots for job growth.

The report, which pulls monthly employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on metropolitan statistical areas, comes from 10 years of three month rolling averages from 1999 to 2010.

Texas benefits from a consistently lower cost of living, a favorable climate for entrepreneurship and diverse industry opportunities.  Energy has naturally also been a helpful buffer for the Lone Star State.

The Texas cities include:

1. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
2. San Antonio-New Braunfels
3. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown
4. Dallas-Plano-Irving
5. Fort Worth-Arlington