LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) - They may seem like paradise to those trying to escape bitter cold, but warm-weather cities can make for a pretty lousy climate for business, at least according to a MarketWatch survey.

Six out of the 10 worst metro areas for business are warm-weather cities, including two cities in California and one each in Arizona, Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Take into account the bottom 20, and 11 of those are warm-weather towns.

One reason is the bursting of the real-estate bubble. The linchpin for much of the nation's current economic turmoil took a toll on sunny regions where speculators invaded the market and kept flipping properties.

That was especially true in the twin cities of Tampa-St. Petersburg, the only new entry to the bottom 10 list this year. Area economists now say that 2009 will be a "lost year" economically because of it.

"You can just write it off right now," said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. In fact, Miami was close to making the bottom 10 this year for many of the same reasons.

In many ways, however, the inherent problems confronting the rest of the bottom 10 remain until the regions find ways to pull themselves up - cold regions that relied heavily on industry and have yet to adapt to new economic realities.

MarketWatch studied the nation's 50 biggest metro areas using a variety of data from multiple sources, and compared them against each other. Starting with the worst, the bottom 10 this year are:

50. New Orleans - 62 points: The Big Easy had an even rougher year than last, as the region still struggles to recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. But with only two Fortune 1000 companies, no Forbes private companies, one S&P company and three Russell firms, the region was crippled from the start.

New Orleans would have improved its odds had mining concern Freeport McMoRan FCX, -3.64% not left for the Phoenix area.

The figures will only get worse for small business when new data is released next year, since the census bureau's data only covers up to 2005. A large portion of the small-business community was devastated when Katrina struck in September of that year.

While many residents still are not living within the Orleans Parish, they have crowded into other nearby parishes, making the metro region close in population to what it was prior to Katrina.

49. Buffalo - 80 points: This upstate New York region does suffer from the ill effects of cold weather, and the fact that many of its mainstay heavy industries fell by the wayside.

Buffalo tumbled by 46 total points and thus fell two places in the rankings. It nearly beat out New Orleans for the bottom spot as well.

Buffalo's rankings in many of the business metrics stayed consistent, but much of its slide was due primarily to a statistical anomaly last year. It ranked high in job growth as it managed - up to that point in the decade - to add a small number of jobs despite losing population.

This year, however, that job growth figure turned negative and Buffalo slid to the bottom 10 in that category.

48. Tucson - 111 points: This southern Arizona city is the smallest of the 50 metro areas surveyed, but some there think it's getting a raw deal.

Sure, there are virtually no businesses that locate there - Freeport McMoRan is a prime example of a company that chose Phoenix instead when it moved from New Orleans. The city has no public or private firms on the Fortune, Forbes or S&P lists.

It lost two of its Russell 2000 companies in the last year, helping it to drop nine points in its overall score. Further, it ranked second-worst in the small-business category.

But Tucson ranked in the top 10 in the jobless category, and in the top third in population growth, all of which helped it to remain in the same ranking as last year.

A sizable military and aerospace presence has helped the region prosper along with tourism, and kept its jobless rate low. But it could face trouble should either of those two industries stumble, says Marshall J. Vest, economist at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

"That's what drives the Tucson economy," he said. "It's not very well diversified."

The region's population has swelled in recent years as retirees continue to gather there. And year-round living is becoming more attractive as Tucson's climate is somewhat more moderate than Phoenix's. Its higher elevation keeps the city about 5-10 degrees cooler.

That hasn't helped, however, when it comes to attracting new companies, Vest says.

"If a company is looking to expand in Arizona, they're going to look at Phoenix first," he said.

47. Sacramento - 120 points: A loss of eight points translated to a drop by one spot for California's capital, and the state's fourth-largest metro area.

A growing population, coupled with a continuing dearth of big employers, worked against the city, which often gets overshadowed by Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Sacramento was in the top 10 in both population growth and job growth, but the positions it added weren't enough to keep it out of the bottom 10 in the unemployment rankings.

Sacramento has one company on the Fortune list, McClatchy Newspapers MNI. It also has two Forbes companies, Raley's grocery stores and Pacific Coast Building Products. It added one Russell 2000 company to the mix as well.

46. Rochester - 134 points: Another upstate New York city in the bottom 10, Rochester did manage to gain 20 points and three spots up the ladder. And it was all due to one company being added to its roster of Forbes private companies.

Bausch & Lomb was new to the list this year after the eye-care company turned private. That, coupled with Rochester's relatively small population, was enough to change its ratio in that category and shoot it up 19 spots in that category.

Rochester has a number of legacy companies such as Eastman Kodak EK and Constellation Brands STZ, +1.11% . But it remains low in the rankings for population and job growth.

44 (tie) Tampa-St. Petersburg - 137 points: The housing bubble took a steep toll on Florida, and wreaked havoc on the Tampa-St. Pete region's business and job picture in particular. The area's score dropped by a whopping 55 points and it plunged 14 spots down the overall list.

It lost ground on the Fortune and Forbes lists, as two companies fell off from each. Tampa-St. Pete, however, fell sharpest in the small-business category. While the MarketWatch study expanded the data used to develop rankings in small business, the new criteria wasn't the only reason for the drop, says the University of Central Florida's Snaith.

"Its biggest problem is it's in Florida right now," Snaith said.

Housing speculators have left the region reeling, with only Miami feeling the pinch worse, and the effects from that extended to small business. It probably will only get worse as newer data come in. Tampa-St. Pete dropped 18 points down in the small-business rankings, second only to Miami's 20-point plunge.

Miami just missed being put in the bottom 10 as it dropped 40th place in the overall rankings.

44 (tie) Los Angeles - 137 points: The City of Angels stayed virtually in the same place (it was 45th last year) with an identical score.

L.A. suffers from the same troubles it has for nearly two decades: a vast metropolitan area with few corporations located there ever since the aerospace industry took a dive. It also slipped several spaces in the small-business rankings.

L.A. does appear, though, to be moving up the ranks with newer companies as it climbed a few spots in the Russell category. L.A. does appear to be adding more jobs, climbing several spots in the job-growth category.

42 (tie) Virginia Beach - 139 points: Much like Los Angeles, the region deals largely in trade and tourism, and actually ranked third in the job-growth category this year, claiming that same spot again.

But it lost several spots in the Fortune and Forbes categories, contributing largely to its 18-point drop in overall score.

Virginia Beach also has four military bases, which helped keep the region's jobless rate low, and the city at the same overall ranking as last year.

42 (tie) Detroit - 139 points: Motor City may fall rapidly once the automotive industry shakeout is complete, but for now it keeps the same score, and moves up two spots by not losing any ground.

The city continues to suffer from a lack of business diversity, and it showed more than ever in its unemployment numbers. Detroit moved down one spot in both the jobless and job-growth categories, and now ranks dead last in each.

41. San Antonio - 149 points: Texas's third-largest city slipped slightly in overall score - by four points - but it gained two spots in the rankings since it didn't slip as much as others.

The city competes with larger cities within the state for businesses, and usually doesn't win out. But people keep flocking to the region, and it manages to stay in the top half in unemployment and job-growth rankings.

Like Virginia Beach, it has four military bases, a fair amount of tourism aided by the Alamo and River Walk, and Toyota's truck-making plant to enrich the region with jobs.

Other warm-weather towns in bottom half: In addition to Miami, which ranked 40th, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego and Phoenix were in the 31-40 spots. Another Texas town, Austin, was 28th.

The two fastest-growing cities in the nation, however, improved their lots. Top-grower Las Vegas moved out of the bottom 10 to reach the 38th spot. And Phoenix, second-fastest on that list, climbed four spots to reach 31st place.