Austin first nationally: Milken

AUSTIN – The Milken Institute’s 2013 report has Austin as the year’s best-performing metro area in the nation. The Austin metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is rapidly becoming an important technology center, with the 13th-highest concentration of technology output in the nation.

The financial services sector is also adding jobs. Visa plans to build a software development center in Austin that will employ 800 workers with an anticipated average salary of $112,000. The city has other draws: skilled young professionals and a hip image that makes it easy to recruit workers from out of state. Accenture, AT&T and Time Warner Cable announced major expansions in the Austin area this year.

This influx of young professionals, who prefer renting or buying condominiums, is also changing the mix of housing construction and causing builders to hire. Multifamily construction permits almost tripled in 2012, hitting 11,300. Construction employment shot up 7.6 percent from June 2012 to June 2013.

Read more at the Best-Performing Cities 2013 report.