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El Paso, TX

El Paso, TX

Overall rank: 10

The El Paso metro, between the Franklin Mountains and the Rio Grande, is home to the Fort Bliss Army installation and the University of Texas at El Paso. Employment in the El Paso metro peaked in the first quarter of last year. Gross metropolitan product in the second quarter was down just 1.9% from the peak in the second quarter of 2008. Home prices grew 1.3% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. And the unemployment rate in June was 9.5%, up 2.9 points from a year earlier. (Please see below for the various criteria used by the Brookings Institution to determine the overall ranking.)

Job growth (since peak) rank: 5
Gross Metro Product (since peak) rank: 13
Unemployment change (year over year) rank: 24
Home price change (year over year) rank: 30