Milwaukee Rises to 16th Among Best Metro Areas for Business

 

By Kathleen Gallagher

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

Dec. 3, 2008

 

Milwaukee moved up two spots on MarketWatch's 50 best U.S. metro areas for business, and outpaced cities such as Austin, Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore.

 

The area moved up to 16th place in 2008, from 18th a year earlier. Minneapolis/St. Paul for the second year was named the best place among the top 50 metro areas to do business by the publication, part of the Wall Street Journal's digital network.

 

MarketWatch based the rankings on eight criteria, including number of small businesses, job growth, unemployment figures and rankings on lists such as those compiled by Forbes and Fortune. Subjective criteria such as quality of life aren't considered. Milwaukee also rose the most in terms of population growth, the report says.