Jacksonville is No. 12 among Boomtowns

Jacksonville is one of the nation's boomtowns, according to a study that looks at job growth in 393 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S.

But at No. 12 on the list of large city boomtowns compiled by Inc. magazine, Jacksonville is one spot lower than a year ago. The city's strengths are in business services, leisure, education and health care.

Florida did well on the list of large cities, which were defined as those with a job base of at least 450,000. Four other metro areas in Florida made the top 11: No. 3 Fort Lauderdale, No. 4 Orlando, No. 6 West Palm Beach and No. 11 Tampa-St. Petersburg.

The rankings are based on current-year employment growth, average annual job growth over the last three years, and job growth in the first and second halves of the past decade. Jacksonville's job growth from 2001-2006 was 9.3 percent.

The top-ranked large city, for the second year in a row, was Las Vegas. The top mid-sized city was Cape Coral, and the top small city was St. George, Utah.

Source: Jacksonville Business Journal