WACO (November 13, 2009)-A recent nationwide study of economic and employment opportunity has ranked two Central Texas metropolitan regions at the top of the list.

The Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area was ranked at No. 2, topped only by Austin-Round Rock in the large metropolitan areas list.

On the small list, Waco ranked No. 18 while College Station-Bryan listed at No. 16.

The study, which was conducted by the Milken Institute, was divided into metropolitan statistical areas (MSA).

The MSAs were then ranked according to a range of factors including job creation and sustainability.

The study only measured outcome factors such as wages and salaries, job growth and technology output; it did not account for quality of life factors such as cost of living, commute times or crime rates.

Texas, which turned in an impressive performance in the 2008 study, improved in 2009, garnering four of the top 5 slots along with nine of the top 25 slots.

So how did the rest of Texas rank?

Top 200 Large Metropolitan Areas:
1 Austin-Round Rock, TX
2 Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
4 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
5 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
11 San Antonio, TX
12 Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
13 Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX
14 El Paso, TX
16 Corpus Christi, TX
29 Lubbock, TX
35 Amarillo, TX
67 Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
70 Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Top 124 Small Metropolitan Areas:
1 Midland, TX
2 Longview, TX
4 Tyler, TX
5 Odessa, TX
14 College Station-Bryan, TX
17 Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR
18 Waco, TX
20 Laredo, TX
21 Abilene, TX
73 Wichita Falls, TX

The Milken Institute is a self proclaimed non-partisan think tank.