12-12-13 fdl metro area named one of the best performing small cities

The Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, just released Best-Performing Cities 2013 and the Fond du Lac metro ranked 65^th out of 179 small cities metros in America. This is a tremendous gain from 2012 when Fond du Lac ranked 94^th. Additionally, the Fond du Lac metro ranked 13^th out of 179 for the presence of high-tech industries. The data is available at www.milkeninstiture.org and www.best-cities.org.  “The report provides a fact-based, comprehensive metric system across metropolitan areas that highlights the job, wage, and technology trends that shape current and future prospects”, according to the Milken Institute. The goal is to help businesses, investors, industry associations, development agencies and government officials, academics, and public-policy groups monitor and evaluate the performance of metros where they work and do business relative to the rest of the country”.  “This is fantastic news on the heels of the announcement from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and IHS Global Insight that the Fond du Lac MSA ranked 34^th nationally out of 363 MSAs in the growth of real gross metropolitan product (GMP)”, noted Steve Jenkins, president of the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation. “These are highly regarded third-party validations that the County’s economy is strong and getting stronger.”