Austin, Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio -- these four major metro areas in Texas made it to the top 10 of Forbes' America's Cities of the Future.
Using eight equally weighted metrics, Forbes ranked 53 largest cities in the United States based on which is likely to prosper in the next decade. Forbes looked at the following: percentage of children in the population, birth rate, net domestic migration, percentage of population aged 25-44 with a bachelor's degree, income growth, unemployment rate and population growth.
According to Forbes, these major Texas cities have seen job growth and income growth more than the national average from 2010 to 2014. For instance, national average of job growth is 8.1 percent, but the four cities posted double digits.
Taking the No. 1 spot is Austin which saw a 13.2 percent population growth from 2010 to 2014 and job growth of 19.1 percent in the last five years. It has a net domestic migration of 16.4 per 1,000 residents which drove the growth in population. Of its population aged 25-44, 43.7 percent have bachelor's degree as compared to the national average 33.6 percent. The birth rate between 2010 and 2014 is 13.8 for every 1,000 women.
Coming second to Austin is Houston, Texas at No. 6 in the ranking. Job growth in Houston is 15.2 percent from 2010 to 2015, while population growth is 9.6 percent. However, with the oil prices decreasing which might result in job losses, Forbes said there's a chance Houston will be out of the list in the coming years.
Dallas and San Antonio follow closely behind Houston at No. 7 and No. 8 in the list, respectively. Both have recorded outstanding performance across the board, Forbes said.
Forbes has identified driving factors in the progress of these American cities which include diverse range of industry, migration of educated population, rising income, low costs and larger number of families. Other countries that made it to the top 10 are: Salt Lake City, Utah (No. 2); San Jose, California (No. 3); Denver, Colorado (No. 4); Raleigh, North Carolina (No. 5); San Francisco, California (No. 9); and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (No. 10).
