Gov. Mike Easley announced today that Forbes magazine named Raleigh No.1 on its Top 200 Best Places for Business and Careers. The city moved up to take the top honors after three years as first runner- up. Eight other North Carolina metro areas placed in the top 200 including Durham (7), Charlotte (21), Asheville (23), Winston-Salem (24), Wilmington (38), Greensboro (61), Fayetteville (105) and Hickory (167).

"With the top business climate in the nation, it is no surprise that North Carolina is home to nine of the country's top 200 places for business and careers," Easley said. "Business leaders know they can get highly skilled employees in North Carolina and employees know there is plenty for their families to enjoy from the mountains to the coast."

The Forbes rankings were based on job and income growth, business and living costs, education of the workforce, migration trends and quality- of-life issues such as crime rates and cultural opportunities. The ranking relied on economic research from Economy.com for indexes and business living costs, job and income growth figures and migration trends. Other data used in the rankings came from Portland-based researcher Bertrand Sperling.

Forbes is a bi-weekly business magazine founded by Scottish immigrant B.C. Forbes in 1917. The complete story can be found at www.forbes.com/bestplaces.