Forbes.com’s search for the best places for business and careers spanned 200 communities, ranging in size from the New York metropolitan area, home to 11.7 million people, to the Merced, Calif., area, with a population of 245,000.

Each community was ranked according to 12 metrics, including costs (business and living), job growth (past and projected), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth.

Quality-of-life issues, including crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities, migration patterns, were also given weight, as were such factors as the number of highly ranked four-year colleges in the community and the percentage of subprime mortgages handed out over three years.

Here is a closer look at what was said about Austin:

Metro-area population: 1.71 million

Rankings

Cost of doing business: 160th

Projected economic growth: second

 Projected job growth: second 

 Educational attainment: 19th

 Income growth: 100th

 Net inbound migration: sixth