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Best Cities to Earn More

Twin Signs of Economic Recovery

To find real economic recovery, look for areas with both rising wages and an increasing number of jobs, Hiles suggests. Among the 10 largest counties by employment in the US, only Harris County, Texas, posted positive results in wages and job growth in the last quarter of 2008 — a gain of 2.6 percent in wages and 1 percent in employment.

However, if you look at the BLS’ list of the 335 largest US counties by employment, the counties with rising wages and job growth are:

• Alaska: Anchorage
• Illinois: Peoria
• Iowa: Linn
• Kansas: Sedgwick, Shawnee and Wyandotte
• Louisiana: Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Orleans
• New York: Kings
• North Carolina: Cumberland
• North Dakota: Cass
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania: Butler and Washington
• South Dakota: Minnehaha
• Texas: Bell, Bexar, Brazoria, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Harris, Hidalgo, Jefferson, Lubbock, McLennan, Montgomery, Nueces, Potter, Smith and Webb
• Virginia: Alexandria, Arlington and Loudoun
• Washington: Yakima
• Washington, DC
• Wisconsin: Winnebago