By at least one metric, Phoenix is slipping.
The metro fell 10 spots on the Milken Institute's 2024 best-performing large city rankings [milkeninstitute.org], dropping from No. 8 in 2023 [bizjournals.com] to No. 18. Phoenix was as high as No. 4 on the list in 2022 and had ranked in the top 10 in each of the previous three years.
Phoenix saw slight drops in many of the 13 categories used by the Milken Institute to measure the performance of large metropolitan cities. The city's ranking for short-term job growth saw a particularly large decrease, falling from 56th last year to 110th among the 200 large cities in the 2024 report. Housing affordability was another negative factor identified by the report, as Phoenix ranked No. 103 in that metric.
The Valley's annual job growth ranking fell from 40th to 60th year-over-year, while its annual wage growth ranking fell from 50th to 57th.
