HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Adding to an impressive string of positive press, Huntsville has been named America's best city for job growth prospects.

Moody's Economy.com, which previously ranked the Rocket City No. 2 for employment potential, elevated Huntsville to the top spot in its latest review of 378 metropolitan areas. Auburn-Opelika is ranked second nationally by Moody's, with Phenix City-Columbus, Ga. (seventh), Mobile (12th) and Montgomery (22nd) also faring well.

The new rankings appear in the latest issue of The Economist, a respected British financial publication.

"It's extremely significant," Joe Vallely, Huntsville's economic development director, said Tuesday. "Anytime you get a No. 1 ranking nationwide by a respected firm like that, it's big. They don't just give those puppies out."

An Economist story titled "Alabama's small cities are poised for recovery," mentions Cummings Research Park, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, AEgis Technologies, which created the three-dimensional models of Vancouver that NBC used in last month's Olympic broadcasts, and CFD Research, a defense firm researching insect-mounted cameras and glucose-based batteries.

"Eat your heart out, Birmingham," the article concludes.

Huntsville's previous Moody's Economy.com accolades were partly based on the continuing relocation of 4,700 military jobs from suburban Washington. Assistant economist Martin Soler Garcia, who studies the city for Moody's, could not be reached Tuesday to talk about the latest review.

Vallely said job-growth rankings, which are widely reported in the financial media, can "spur renewed interest" from companies that have flirted with moving to the Rocket City and help validate the decision of those that are already here.

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