Best performing cities

Hint: L.A. didn't make the top 10. Or 20. Actually, the L.A-Long Beach-Glendale metro area was ranked 139th on the Milken Institute's latest list of best- and worst-performing cities. Don't feel bad - at least we beat out Portland, Maine, Jacksonville, Fla., and Chicago, which wound up in 148th position (first the Bears and now this!). The components that Milken used in determining rank include job growth, wage and salary growth, and high tech growth. The reasons for L.A.'s poor showing shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention:

Like other metros experiencing steep housing declines and increasing default and foreclosure rates, Los Angeles has been hammered by the loss of jobs in construction, manufacturing, real estate services, and financial services. These sectors lost more than 18,000 jobs between 2007 and 2008. As the recession progressed, other service-providing industries, such as administrative and support services (a category that includes temp agencies) also hemorrhaged. Nearly 5,900 jobs were lost in that industry during the same period.

Our five-year job growth indicator shows that the largest job losses during this period in Los Angeles have been suffered in corporate management and in apparel. Although Los Angeles has managed to remain a center for fashion design, more than 14,000 jobs were lost in apparel manufacturing between 2003 and 2008 (including more than 1,400 cuts between 2007 and 2008). The management of companies and enterprises category saw the loss of nearly 21,000 workers between 2003 and 2008 (including more than 2,200 in the most recent year). As companies have continued to move their headquarters out of Los Angeles due to high cost of doing business, the impact has not only been felt in terms of lost jobs, but also the lost spending that these companies once contributed locally.

These rankings will get lots of media coverage because, well, we all want to know our place in the scheme of things. As in, should we be happy or sad during our commute home tonight? Thing is, the top finishers include Houston, Hartford Conn., Midland, Texas, San Antonio, Killeen, Texas (where Fort Hood is located), and Huntsville, Alabama. If you prefer any of those garden spots to L.A., have at it.

In fairness, there were a few decent metros making the top tier, among them Seattle and Washington, D.C. NY was ranked a more-than-respectable 38th. New York? You mean the place that almost melted down because of the financial collapse? Yep. But much of the Milken data cuts off in 2008, and a lot of the fallout happened in 2009. Not that L.A. would have done a whole lot better if this year's numbers were included - frankly, it might have done worse.

Point is, the economy, wherever its location, is always in motion, always subject to adjustments for better or worse. Take the rankings for what they are: a snapshot based on very specific criteria that may or may not relate to you or where you want to be. Here's the link.