This is from the Brookings Institution’s Metro Monitor: Texas has six of the top twenty performing metro economies in the country. One of these is the only metro area in the country to record growth in both employment and output. Here are the six metro areas. Which one is it? The metro areas are listed in alphabetical order: Austin-Round Rock Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington El Paso Houston-Baytown-Sugarland McAllen-Edinburg-Pharr San Antonio The answer is … McAllen! Amazing. None of these areas, however, has regained pre-recession levels of employment or output. The Metro Monitor divides the list into five quintiles representing the strongest 20 metros, the second-strongest 20, the middle 20, the second weakest 20, and the weakest. Fourteen of the weakest 20 are in California and Florida, and the second-weakest quintile includes seven from those two states. The rest of the 20 strongest: Albuquerque Baton Rouge Des Moines Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Little Rock New Haven Oklahoma CIty Omaha-Council Bluffs IA Pittsburgh Rochester, NY Tulsa Virginia Beach-Borfolk, Newport News Washington-Arlington-Alexandria VA Wichita The carnage at the bottom includes: Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice FL Cape Coral-Fort Myers FL Fresno Jacksonville FL Lakeland-Winterhaven FL Las Vegas NV Los Angeles-Long Beach Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach Modesto CA Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura CA Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville FL Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario CA Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville CA Stockton CA Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater FL Other interesting items * Housing prices in Houston increased by 4.7% from 01/08 to 01/09 * The hardest hit manufacturing areas are those that depend heavily on the aut industry and its supply chain (Dayton, Detroit, Youngstown) * Job losses and housing prices are better in non-automobile areas (Hartford, Rochester, Scranton)