The best-perfoming cities of 2011 Every year the Milken Institute identifies the best performing cities in America.

Cycling through maps from the past 13 years you get a sense of what has happened to America: the leaders moved west with the IT boom, east with the housing bubble and inland with the energy boom.

Raleigh and Austin managed to make the top 20 nearly every year.

Raleigh ranks high thanks to its long-term job growth and involvement in government research. Meanwhile, most of Texas dominates performance with its various energy developments and projects, including both oil and solar.