Top 3 U.S. cities for jobs
Abridged: Forbes.com

NEW YORK, NY -- Forbes recently released a report on the 25 Best U.S.Cities for jobs. To compile the rankings, they used five data points,weighted equally: Unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, medianhousehold income, and cost of living. Below are summaries of their topThree.

#1 - Raleigh North Carolina has a lot to offer, mainly the fact that ithas nothing bad to offer. North Carolina's housing market has beenrelatively stable, so Raleigh probably doesn't have a downturn to lookforward to. The three universities in the area--Duke, the University ofNorth Carolina and North Carolina State University--help attract highlyeducated workers and technology firms.

#2 - Phoenix Arizona has benefited from a hot housing market and arelatively low cost of living. The state has done a good job attractingtechnology firms, particularly biotech. "There is a fair amount ofmigration from southern California into Phoenix, both in terms ofcompanies moving that way and households," says Steven Cochrane ofMoody's Economy.com. It's basically a cheaper way to live inCalifornia: "In the heat of the summer, families can still vacation onthe West Coast and escape the heat."

# 3 - Jacksonville Florida moved up in the rankings this year. Thehousing market wasn't as overheated in Jacksonville as it was in southFlorida, so the slowdown shouldn't have as much of a negative effect.Defense spending also boosts Jacksonville's job market.