SouthWest Florida Real Estate Services
Cape Coral | Fort Myers | Punta Gorda | Burnt Store | Naples

Milken Institute
Best Performing Cities 2005
Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained (Excerpt.)

Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Florida was the second best performing city in 2005 and Naples-Marco Island ranked third. 

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, the top performer in the 2004 index, maintained its position among the country’s elite but slipped into second place this year. Still, the MSA has ranked no lower than third over the past three years. The area recorded job growth of 6.7 percent in 2004 but witnessed a modest deceleration in 2005. Nonetheless, the region is experiencing a virtuous, self-reinforcing pattern of growth. The local travel and tourism sector is thriving.

Growth in financial services and back-office operations, such as call centers, has created new jobs. High-tech manufacturing has been another growth engine. Rapid local job and population growth has resulted in one of the country’s strongest construction markets. Single-family housing permits tripled between 2000 and 2004. Construction employment constitutes 11.2 percent of the MSA’s total jobs—more than double the national average. New home construction will slow down but remain at high levels. The sharp population growth has also caused a rapid increase in the demand for health care services. Overall, the region’s wage and salary growth was second in the country over the past five years.

Naples-Marco Island, Florida, on the Gulf Coast, ranks third on our 2005 index of best performing cities, thanks to broad-based job and salary growth, the highest in the nation over the past five years. Its population is well-off, with per capita income at $41,500, or $10,000 above the national average. Increases in foreign travel and tourism—the result of waning concerns over terrorism in the United States and a weak dollar—are creating jobs. Domestic tourism is rebounding, as well. Strong retirement growth has supported positive net migration and fueled housing demand, though the rapid increase in housing prices has reduced the area’s affordability and poses a risk to growth.

About the Study

The Milken Institute Best Performing Cities Index measures which metropolitan areas of the United States are the most successful at job creation and exhibit the best economic performance. Specifically, it measures where:

• jobs are being created

• jobs are being maintained

• wages and salaries are increasing

• economies are growing

• businesses are thriving