Milken ranks area high economically

Houma and the Houma-Thibodaux metropolitan area placed high in several economic rankings issued in recent months, placing at number one in some categories.

Most notably, the Houma-Thibodaux metro area ranked number 16 among 124 smaller cities in the nation for 2008, surveyed in an annual economic report issued by the Milken Institute and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners.

The report, titled “Best-Performing Cities 2008: Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained,” ranks cities according to a combination of factors like job growth and quality, wages and overall economic performance.

Houma-Thibodaux placed 33rd last year and number 14 in 2005.

The area ranked highest in growth in the salaries and jobs categories. Houma-Thibodaux placed number one in the country between 2005 and 2006 in one-year salary growth and number three between 2006 and 2007.

Houma-Thibodaux ranked number nine in five-year salary growth between 2001 and 2006 and number 20 in job growth between 2002 and 2007.

The area placed lowest in the high-tech category, coming in at numbers 98 and 116 in two different high-tech rankings.

Lake Charles, Alexandria and Monroe – the other smaller Louisiana metro areas in the nationwide survey-placed 74, 78 and 109, respectively.

In addition to the Milken/Greenstreet report, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis put Houma-Thibodaux at number four in a survey of metro areas, large and small, having the fastest-growing per capita income in 2007. The survey was released in August this year.

In another report issued in June, the United States Conference of Mayors singled out Houma-Thibodaux as having the fastest-growing gross metropolitan product of all metro areas in the country in 2008. The GMP is the value of all goods and services produced within a metro area over a period of time.