Newton Area One of the Best in the Nation for Economic Growth, Job Creation

Newton is part of one of the 10 best metropolitan areas in the nation for creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth, according to the 2012 Milken Institute's annual Best Performing Cities Index.

The Milken Institute ranks more than 370 metropolitan areas into its annual Best Performing Cities Index. Newton is merged together with Cambridge and Framingham to form a metropolitan area.

Last year, the Cambridge-Framingham-Newton area was ranked 12th.

San Jose tops the index in 2012. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., vaulted from 50th in 2011 to its new no. 1 spot.

The index ranks American metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary, and technology growth, according to the Institute.

Technology centers performed well, holding 12 of the Top 25 positions. The Cambridge-Framingham-Newton area is considered a tech center. In fact, the Newton area was ranked no. 1. in technology.

Among metro areas, Newton ranked:

• 37th in one-year job growth
• 118th in five-year job growth
• 4th in one-year salary growth
• 29th in five-year salary growth
• 1st in number of high-tech industries
• 3rd in high technology concentration

One clear takeaway is that communities and industries that embrace technological know-how can claim an enviable advantage, stated the index's authors.

The Index addresses why are some places in America prospering, and some struggling and what makes some areas positioned well for the future.

Milken Institute's annual Best-Performing Cities index provides a data-driven, comprehensive measure of economic strength across metropolitan areas.

"We include job, wage, and technology metrics over a five-year period to capture the structural elements," said the index's authors.

For more information, check out the full report on the Milken Institute's website.