Downtownhuntsville 1 1 — Downtown Huntsville (The Bama Buzz)

The Milken Institute has released its annual survey which studies and ranks some of the biggest metro areas across the country.

This year’s study, titled “Resilience in a Cooling Economy,” included two Alabama cities among the best performing metros of 2025—one in each tier.

Here’s where they ranked:

Huntsville: No. 2 in large cities
Auburn/Opelika: No. 10 in small cities

Both of those metro areas appeared in last year’s top 10 list from the Milken Institute.

Milken Institute: Resilience in a Cooling Economy

The index uses data from the US Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to measure the economic performance of 206 large cities (defined as a population higher than 275,000) and 205 small cities.

It is constructed using indicators that reflect the metropolitan areas’ capacity to sustain strong labor market growth and an environment that fosters innovation, while maintaining high livability standards. Those indices include:

Short-term job growth: Percentage change in employment from July 2024 to July 2025
One-year job growth: Percentage change in employment from December 2023 to December 2024
Five-year job growth: Percentage change in employment from December 2019 to December 2024
One-year wage growth: Percentage change in total wages from December 2023 to December 2024
Five-year wage growth: Percentage change in total wages from December 2019 to December 2024
One-year high-tech GDP growth: Percentage change in high-tech GDP from December 2023 to December 2024
Five-year high-tech GDP growth: Percentage change in high-tech GDP from December 2019 to December 2024
High-tech GDP concentration: High-tech GDP location quotient (LQ) (share of GDP in metro relative to the national economy)
Number of high-tech industries with LQ>1: Number of high-tech industries in the metro area with a GDP LQ higher than 1
Households with affordable housing: Percentage of households paying 30% or less of their income on housing costs
Households with broadband: Percentage of households with a broadband internet connection
Community resilience: Percentage of households with fewer than 3 risk factors that increase their vulnerability to a natural or economic disaster
Income distribution: The inverse of the Gini index (i.e., 1 divided by the metro’s income inequality index)

Keep reading to learn more about why each place made the list.

Huntsville

Building Permits — Von Braun Center in Huntsville. (The Bama Buzz)

Huntsville was one of six cities to return to the top 10 list from last year’s study and just one of two returning to the top 5.

Last year, the city came in at No. 4 on Milken’s list but in 2025, they moved up to No. 2. Huntsville ranks only behind the Fayetteville-Springsdale-Rogers metro area in Arkansas.

“Huntsville has firmly established itself as a major defense and aerospace hub, earning it the nickname of Rocket City. It is home to the Redstone Arsenal and Marshall Space Flight Center, and major aerospace firms such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin all have a presence in the Rocket City.”
The Milken Institute

Some of the key Huntsville’s 5-year-growth numbers from the Milken index:

Job growth: 16.6% (5th nationally)
Wage growth: 43.6%
High-tech GDP growth: 40.9%

Auburn-Opelika

Auburn-Opelika came in at No. 10 on the Tier 1 list for small cities and was the only small city in the southeast to make Tier 1.

It’s the second straight year the college town metro area made the list, ranking 10th in consecutive years. It was one of seven metro areas to return to the top 10 after the 2024 rankings.

Milken directly points to Auburn University as a key factor in the metro area’s consistency in their rankings.

“AU has an enduring role as the cornerstone of the local economy, adding 5,500 jobs to the metro. Moreover, unlike other universities, AU’s student population has continuously grown, ensuring a steady supply of high-skilled workers to the local economy.”
Milken Institute