KILLEEN, Texas – Killeen has once again claimed the top spot on a national ranking. Newgeogrpahy.com announced Monday that the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area topped their 2011 Best Cities for Jobs list.

This annual list created for Forbes Magazine ranked 398 current metropolitan statistical areas based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported from November 1999 to January 2011. Rankings are based on recent growth trends, mid-term growth and long-term growth and momentum.

Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood ranked first out of all 398 MSAs, improving three spots from the 2010 fourth place ranking. The MSA has showed continued job growth during the last few years ranking fifth on the 2009 list; a significant increase from the 63^rd spot in the 2008 rankings.

"This announcement is gratifying. A lot of people work together to achieve a result such as this. Folks around here are, in every sense, world class collaborators,” said John Crutchfield, Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce President/CEO. “We are all fortunate to live in the center of a state with a business-friendly environment and in a community who enjoys a productive, supportive relationship with our military neighbor, Fort Hood. This is another reason for continued optimism about our future.”

The 2011 list confirmed the trend that smaller communities tend to be the best places for jobs. Eighteen of the top 20 cities on the list were either small (under 150,000 nonfarm jobs) or mid-sized areas (less than 450,000 jobs).

Despite tough economic times in the United States, the Lone Star State has weathered the storm fairly well. Texas cities claimed five of the top six and nine of the top 20 spots on the list. Texas dominated the three size categories as well, with Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood ranking first amongst small cities, El Paso garnering the top spot for mid-sized cities (third overall), and the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA claiming the top spot amongst large metropolitan areas (sixth overall).

About the Best Cities for Jobs list

Joel Kotkin, a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, and Michael Shires, an

associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, team up annually to create the Best Cities for Jobs list for Forbes Magazine. The list allows the rankings to include all of the metropolitan statistical areas for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports monthly employment data. The rankings are derived from three-month rolling averages of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics "state and area" unadjusted employment data reported from November 1999 to January 2011.

EMINENT DOMAIN BILL NOW LAW

AUSTIN (San Antonio Business Journal) – Governor Rick Perry has signed Senate Bill 18 into law.

The law helps strengthen a property owner’s right to defend against eminent domain from both U.S. and Texas government agencies and private entities.

The bill was one of the governor's “emergency” initiatives for the current legislative session.

TEXAS ECONOMY GROWING FASTER THAN NATION'S

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas’ economy continues to outperform the U.S. economy, according to the latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy produced by the Real Estate Center.

Texas gained 254,900 jobs from April 2010 to April 2011, an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent. Over the same period, U.S. nonfarm employment rose 1.1 percent.

The state’s private sector also exceeded U.S. figures, posting an annual employment growth rate of 3 percent compared with the nation's 1.7 percent .

Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 8 percent last month from 8.2 a year ago. During that time, the nation’s rate decreased from 9.8 to 9 percent.

All Texas industries except the information industry had more jobs in April 2011 than in April 2010. All Texas metro areas except Abilene had more jobs, as well. Petroplex Odessa ranked first in job creation followed by petroplex Midland, Dallas-Plano-Irving, Beaumont-Port Arthur and Amarillo.

The state’s actual unemployment rate last month was 7.7 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, College Station-Bryan, Lubbock and San Angelo.

FORT HOOD - The new $13.8 million Hood Stadium complex is underway with completion set for September 2012, said Nick Johnsen, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) director.

The stadium will be located southwest of the Clear Creek Main Exchange and southeast of Smith Middle School. US Hwy. 190 is just to the south of the site.

The new stadium will have a regulation football and soccer field, four softball fields, a University Interscholastic League track, press box, concession stands and locker rooms. The stadium will also feature parking for 1,000 vehicles.

With seating for 5,500, there will be room on the field for 5,000 to 10,000 people, said Johny Pelton, chief of FMWR's Recreation Division.

Freedom Fest regularly draws crowds of about 100,000 every July. The project will replace Hood Stadium after it was demolished last summer to make room for the new Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

AUSTIN (Texas Association of Realtors) – According to the Texas Quarterly Housing Report released yesterday by the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR), Texas homes maintained their value in first quarter 2011. This despite a decrease in sales volume, indicating that economic recovery continues in Texas.

"While Texas has not been untouched by the recent economic downturn as indicated by the decrease in sales, it is encouraging to see home prices hold their value in the first quarter," said TAR Chairman Dwight Hale.

In the first quarter, the median price of existing single-family homes increased 1.3 percent to $143,300 compared with first quarter 2010. During the same period, the volume of home sales was 40,192, 7.3 percent less than the previous year.

"In evaluating the first quarter of 2011, we must remember we're comparing it to the first quarter of 2010," said Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. "That time period included March, which was one of the most heavily government-stimulated months of the year by the homebuyer tax credit. While we expected sales to be down given this anomaly, we expected the decrease in the sales volume to be much greater, suggesting that the market is performing well despite the absence of tax credits."

Texas had 7.5 months of inventory in the first quarter, compared with 6.8 months a year ago.

"Texas is still performing considerably better than other states in terms of maintaining balance between home inventory and demand," Gaines said. "Combined with the fact that Texas has maintained strong property values, this indicates that the market is absorbing foreclosed and other distressed properties without experiencing harmful excess supply."