Growing cities with diverse, stable economies – not the booming high-tech “new economies” of the 1990s – are the big winners in this year’s Milken Institute Best Performing Cities index.

The index measures where jobs are being created, economies are growing and businesses are thriving.

Unlike past years when technology-oriented metros dominated the top of the ranking, this year’s leaders have all earned their high marks the old-fashioned way – with traditional businesses like retail, a growing population, and reliable growth industries such as government and health care.

The top four metropolitan areas on this year’s ranking all follow that pattern: Fayetteville, Ark., home to retail giant Wal-Mart; Las Vegas, Nev, one of America’s fastest-growing cities; Fort Myers, Fla., a growing retirement community; and travel destination West Palm Beach, Fla. Of the top 10, only two cities – San Diego (#1 in 2002) and San Luis Obispo, Ca. – could be considered high-tech towns.

The top 10:

1. Fayetteville, Ark.
2. Las Vegas, Nev.
3. Fort Myers, Fla.
4. West Palm Beach, Fla.
5. San Diego, Calif.
6. San Luis Obispo, Calif.
7. Laredo, Texas
8. Brownsville, Texas
9. McAllen, Texas
10. Monmouth, N.J.

Of the top 10 most-populous U.S. metros, Washington, D.C. scored the highest, followed by Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New York and, lastly, Detroit.

One trend this year is the success of many cities where government and higher education – which are less susceptible to business cycles – play an important role in the local economy.

On a separate list of the top 96 small metros, Iowa City, Iowa, was number one, followed by Tyler, Texas, Las Cruces, N.M., Billings, Mont., and Santa Fe, N.M.

The Best Performing Cities ranks 296 U.S. metro areas according to wage and salary growth, job growth and high-tech output growth using the most current data available, – primarily from the federal government.

Sample news coverage.

View Index:
View Top 200 Metro ranking
View 96 Smaller Metro ranking
View Best Performing Cities report