TAKAAKI IWABU - tiwabu@newsobserver.com
Duke Energy announced Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, that it will buy Progress Energy. The deal will result in Raleigh losing a Fortune 500 corporate headquarters when Progress ceases to exist as an independent company after 102 years of operation.
Forbes, please stop it, we're blushing.
OK, keep it coming, we really don't mind all the fawning and stroking.
The financial magazine last week ranked Raleigh No. 1 on its list of the 50 Best Places for Business and Careers.
This week, Raleigh comes in as No. 2 on its list of the Next Big Boom Towns in the U.S. Austin is No. 1 and Nashville is No. 3. Charlotte is No. 8.
For the latest accolade, Forbes notes the Raleigh metro area's population growth, job growth, jump in new immigrants and other factors. The magazine also ranks Raleigh as the No. 1 city for families with young children.
"The area is a magnet for technology companies fleeing the more expensive, congested and highly regulated northeast corridor," Forbes' "New Geographer" Joel Kotkin writes. "Affordable housing and short commute times are no doubt highly attractive to recent college graduates and millennials looking to start families."
Economic boosters cite such lists as powerful tools for bolstering the local economy. People and businesses review the lists when they're considering a relocation, and chamber types tout them when they're marketing this region.
"What is clear is that well-established patterns of job creation and vital demographics will drive future regional growth, not only in the next year, but over the coming decade," Kotkin writes. "People create economies and they tend to vote with their feet when they choose to locate their families as well as their businesses."
