Population change: 4.00%
Unemployment rate: 6.0%
Population living above poverty line: 90%
Credit rating: Aaa, stable outlook
Change in median home price: 35%
Avg. annual patents: 494
Adult pop. with advanced degree: 15%
Upward Mobility rank (out of 100): 51
To find the country’s top 20 thriving cities, The Daily Beast looked at the 100 largest cities in the U.S. and compared them in categories of population growth (20 percent), employment and earnings (30 percent), market strength (20 percent), infrastructure (15 percent), and intellectual capital (15 percent) and weighted them accordingly. We used data from the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Equality of Opportunity Project, Moody’s Credit Services, Zillow, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Also: Imagine Greater Tucson cuts paid staff; goes all-volunteer
