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Seattle hops up Milken’s Best Performing Cities rankings

We’re now at No. 24, leaping up 10 spots from 2023.

A rainbow appears in the sky above buildings in the downtown Seattle area with an area that has scooters and orange traffic cones

We’re looking at the bright side for the new Milken ranking that has us still among Tier 2 cities.

Photo by Sahil B. (submitted for our 2023 Picture of the Year contest)

We’re on out way back up, folks. After falling to No. 34 on the Milken Institute’s prestigious Best Performing Cities list last year, Seattle jumped 10 spots to No. 24 in the 2024 update.

Milken provides an objective evaluation of the economic performance and resiliency of over 400+ US cities. The nonprofit think tank ranks cities based on 13 indicators of economic growth and access to opportunities like employment + wages, broadband access, and housing affordability.

The Seattle area — which includes Bellevue and Everett — ranked as high as No. 6 in 2022 before taking a tumble last year.

Despite the ups and downs, Seattle received high marks for its robust job market and adoption of technology in the 2024 report.

We also scored points for a new category this year: resiliency in the face of future economic downturns or natural disasters. So, things look to be trending in the right direction.

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