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This may seem like a dumb question: where is it good to be a young adult? The easy answer is everywhere. But some metro areas, starting with Austin, are kinda awesome.

The Southwest is the new frontier for young Americans—the region where those in their 20s and 30s have the best chance of establishing themselves in a recessionary economy.

Five Southwestern metropolitan areas, led by No. 1 Austin, rank among the nation’s 10 best places for young adults, according to a new Portfolio.com/bizjournals study.

Two qualities help Austin—the host of the annual South by Southwest music, film, and interactive conference and festival—to stand out among the nation’s largest metros:

— Two thirds of the nation’s major markets have fewer jobs now than five years ago, but Austin added 99,200 jobs during that span. Its annual employment-growth rate of 2.8 percent is the fastest in America.

— Austin has the strongest concentration of young people among the 67 metros. Twenty-eight percent of its residents are between the ages of 18 and 34. The median for the study group is 23.1 percent.

Washington, Raleigh, and Boston are the three runners-up in the study’s rankings of the best places for young adults. They’re followed by four Southwestern metros—Houston, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Tulsa—that occupy fifth through eighth place.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals analyzed the 67 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations above 750,000, searching for qualities that would appeal to workers in their 20s and early 30s. The study’s 10-part formula gave the highest marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living, and substantial pools of young adults who are college-educated and employed. (See the methodology sidebar for details.)

Here’s a quick look at the very best places—the top-10 metros for young adults.

1. Austin: Its attractiveness to young adults is broadly based, and it ranks among the 10 leading markets in five of the categories that were analyzed. This isn’t the first time Austin takes top honors in a Portfolio.com/bizjournals analysis. Earlier this year, the city was named the best city in which to launch a small business.

5. Houston: Employment opportunities abound in Houston, where the job-growth rate (1.7 percent per year) ranks among the five best in the nation. And so does its annual upswing in per capita income (6.6 percent).

7. Dallas-Fort Worth: The recession caused some backsliding in 2009, but Dallas-Fort Worth still has 206,000 more jobs than it did five years ago. Local population is zipping higher by 2.4 percent per year.

The least desirable market for young adults, according to the Portfolio.com/bizjournals study, is Detroit, which shares the pain of the major automotive corporations based there.

Detroit is saddled with the nation’s worst unemployment rate for young adults, the slowest rate of income growth, and the biggest decline in overall employment. A total of 343,700 jobs have disappeared from the Detroit area during the past five years. This isn’t the first time Detroit has come up short this year in a Portolio.com/bizjournals study: It came in last in the January analysis of small-business vitality and was the lowest-ranking major city in February’s review of U.S. wealth centers.

Two Midwestern industrial markets and two Sunbelt metros round out the bottom five. These areas may differ in geography, but they share a lack of attractiveness to young adults: Cleveland (66th place), Dayton, Ohio (65th), Tampa-St. Petersburg (64th), and California’s Riverside-San Bernardino area (63rd).

Economist Michael Cox has a slogan to suggest if you're trying to attract talented workers from either coast: Move here and get a free BMW.

It's not false advertising, says the former chief economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, who's now at Southern Methodist University.

Most professionals working in the Northeast and California pay the equivalent of a year's worth of expensive car payments in annual personal income tax – which we don't have.

But we don't need an ad campaign to encourage immigration to North Texas.

Every year for the last three years, Dallas-Fort Worth has added a Little Rock to our population, Cox says. Maintain that annual increase of 165,000 for three years, and we will have "annexed" a San Jose, Calif., since 2007.

"Every six years, we add a million people," says Cox, who heads the O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at SMU. "That's unbelievable. When they lose their jobs in Cleveland, they say, 'OK, let's pack up and move to Dallas.' "

"Over the past 30 years, Michigan pretty much lost the auto and truck industry to the Sun Belt. When Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and other international competitors came to the U.S., they almost exclusively chose Sun Belt locations," he says.

"The same thing is now happening to California." And this time, companies are beating a path to Texas.

Niemi cites a study done by Bain & Co. a few years ago that surveyed the CEOs of all companies headquartered in California.

"Forty percent said they were making plans to leave the state," Niemi says. "Of those planning to leave, 35 percent said they would likely move offshore to find cheaper labor, 36 percent said they were planning to move to Texas and the remaining 29 percent said they would relocate somewhere else in the U.S."

A recent Associated Press headline makes it abundantly clear why Texas was right to turn down federal "Race to the Top" funding last month.

The story was titled, "Schools face big budget holes as stimulus runs out."

"The nation's public schools are falling under severe financial stress as states slash education spending and drain federal stimulus money that staved off deep classroom cuts and widespread job losses," the AP reported. "School districts have already suffered big budget cuts since the recession began two years ago, but experts say the cash crunch will get a lot worse as states run out of stimulus dollars."

The result, the AP added, could be "more teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, smaller paychecks, fewer electives and extracurricular activities, and decimated summer school programs."

States that relied heavily upon stimulus dollars -- and less on planning ahead and making economies -- will be hit the hardest.

"The situation is particularly ugly in California, where school districts are preparing for mass layoffs and swelling class sizes as the state grapples with another massive budget shortfall," AP reported.

That's one reason Texas was wise to turn down further federal "incentive" money -- a federal bailout, with no fiscal reform, only puts off the inevitable.

Gov. Rick Perry had other reasons, as well.

"Texas won't compete for up to $700 million in federal stimulus money for education because the program 'smacks of a federal takeover of our public schools,' Perry said," the AP reported last month. "The funding is from the U.S. Department of Education's 'Race to the Top' program, a $5 billion competitive fund that will award grants to states to improve education quality and results. The program, created in the economic stimulus law, is part of Democratic President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul the nation's schools."

As Brooke Dollens Terry of the Texas Public Policy Foundation points out, the "Race to the Top" money would have been very costly, indeed.

"In order for a state to apply for its share of President Obama's Race to the Top stimulus funds, it will have to explain how it will use those federal dollars on a list of suggested education reforms," she explains.

For one thing, education is a state matter -- not a federal responsibility.

"Texas lawmakers control funding and school requirements, and the State Board makes decisions about curriculum," she says. "All of these are elected positions directly accountable to the voters at least once every four years."

And the federal funds would have to be "leveraged" by the state -- meaning we would have to spend money to get money. It could be as much as $3 billion (in revamping curriculums to meet federal mandates) to have access to a maximum of $750 million.

But the stark reality is stimulus money isn't limitless -- it will dry up.

Other states are already facing that reality. By prolonging the pain, Washington isn't doing those states any favors. Texas was right to turn down the funding. That's the lesson here.

Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that Texas has been ranked the country’s No. 1 exporting state in the United States for the eighth consecutive year.

He credited the state’s economic environment — including its low taxes, a favorable regulatory climate and a skilled and educated workforce — for holding that distinction.

“Texas leads the nation in so many positive categories, from Fortune 500 companies to job creation, and we owe it to our citizens to continue our economic success by adhering to our proven fiscal disciplines,” Perry says. “Our principled leadership has created an environment that allows us to compete for jobs, investment and business, and defend the economic climate that has made Texas the top exporting state in the nation for the eighth straight year.”

Texas’ exports totaled more than $163 billion for 2009, with the top export recipients being Mexico, Canada, China, the Netherlands and Korea. These countries imported $56 billion, $13.7 billion, $8.9 billion, $6 billion and $5.3 billion in Texas-manufactured goods, respectively. Texas’ top exporting industries in 2009 were computers and electronics, chemicals, machinery, petroleum and coal, and transportation equipment.

He also credited the Texas Enterprise Fund for helping to attract businesses, jobs and investment to the state. The fund was instrumental in convincing Allstate Insurance Co. to establish a bilingual call center in San Antonio and create up to 600 jobs.

San Antonio and six metropolitan areas in Texas are expected to be among the first to emerge from the recession, according to Moody’s Economy.

Texas added 50,000 new jobs in the fourth quarter and activity in the new housing sector remains strong in both Dallas and Houston, according to a new study by SigmaBleyzer.

The Lone Star State has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

The positive quarterly job numbers come despite the state losing 24,000 jobs in the construction, trade, transportation and hospitality sectors in December. According to a recent Texas Workforce Commission report, Texas experienced employment increases in education, health care, mining and logging.

The study also focused on the broader economy of Texas, which remains under a downturn, but holds a positive outlook for the coming year.

Among residential housing, some signs of recovery are beginning to emerge, according to the report.

Texas has one of the fastest population growth rates in the country, which the report says should sustain long-term demand for housing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 27 percent of all new privately-owned housing units in the nation’s 20 largest cities were located in Dallas or Houston.

The state’s export activity continues to recover as high oil prices and improving foreign demand for high-tech manufacturing increase. Texas remains the largest exporter for the eighth consecutive year. In the first 11 months of 2009, Texas exports only fell by 18 percent, compared to the 21 percent decline nationally.

“This resilience of Texas exporters should help keep the state’s economy on more sustainable footing as the U.S. economic recovery becomes increasingly dependent on the strength of foreign demand,” the report by the Houston-based private equity firm stated.

Based upon the reaction out of Washington, I must have touched a nerve when I announced that Texas won't be pursuing the strings-attached federal stimulus funds known as Race to the Top (RTTT).

President Barack Obama and his administration have put a target on the backs of Texas leaders, taxpayers and employers because state leaders and lawmakers have proven that conservative principles can balance budgets, improve schools, clean the environment and help entrepreneurs create jobs.

Texans have also led the 10th Amendment charge to protect state sovereignty from threats like Obama's latest effort to circumvent the right of states to determine how to best educate their children.

The problem with RTTT funding is clear: Under the program's rules, Washington gives preference and dollars to states that agree to adopt national standards that haven't even been written yet.

Texans strongly support the high standards and strong accountability for our schools that have made us a national leader in both categories. Other states are even studying our approach, the first in the nation to make a college-preparatory curriculum the default for every student, as a basis for their own standards.

Texas is home to some of the country's most innovative charter schools, with more than 115,000 students on nearly 500 campuses. It has the largest merit pay program for outstanding public school teachers. I've also recently announced efforts to make it easier for students to learn via the Internet and called on legislators to bulk up our instruction in critical areas like science, technology, engineering and math.

I suspect there is some head-scratching going on in our nation's capital as federal officials try to figure out how our test scores are rising and our dropout rate falling without mandates or bribes from Washington.

Put simply, we have poured our efforts into preparing the state's students for the jobs of tomorrow.

Considering Texas is among the nation's leaders in standards, I imagine whatever federal standards are eventually agreed upon will be weaker than the ones we have now.

Adding injury to insult, the price tag to change all our text books and instructional materials to comply with Washington's vision for public education would be about $3 billion.

In return, Texas could expect to get back from Race To The Top as little as $75 a student, barely enough to fund our state's educational system for two days.

So turning down the strings-attached stimulus money was an easy call — in terms of ensuring our children get the best education possible and in simple matters of dollars and cents.

A few days after I made that announcement, the president said he wanted another $1.35 billion in borrowed dollars to expand RTTT so he could sidestep states and appeal directly to individual school districts that might be willing to sign away their authority in return for a quick infusion of some federal cash.

Why are Obama and his allies so insistent on funding only those who will accept federal strings and standards? Why not just fund good programs, like we do in Texas?

An answer might be found in a speech Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered early last year. Duncan said, "If we accomplish one thing in the coming years, it should be to eliminate the extreme variation in standards across America."

Let's set aside the argument that the "variation in standards" among states fosters innovation and a healthy competition that drives standards ever higher all over the country.

That's not what this seems to be about. This seems to be about one thing, and one thing only: federal control.

Washington doesn't have an issue with our programs. Washington doesn't have an issue with our academic or accountability standards. It just wants to make sure it calls the shots, not Texas educators, school boards and other elected officials.

Should Washington drop its focus on the adoption of national standards and simply allow states the freedom to use this money to fund quality programs on a one-time basis, we can consider possibly applying for future grants.

Until then, however, the education of our children is far too important to entrust to some federal bureaucrat toiling in a distant federal building.

In Texas, we are fighting to maintain our freedom to hold our children to high standards, because that's the only way Texas will maintain its established reputation as a national leader in job creation, innovation and quality of life.

On the eve of the second Texas Republican gubernatorial debate, Gov. Rick Perry told East Texans that under his administration, Texas has set a blueprint to recover from the economic crisis that he believes Washington should follow.

No major state has weathered the recession more successfully than Texas. So it’s logical that the best place to launch a new business would be a prominent Texas metropolitan area.

The nation’s top score for small-business vitality, according to a new Portfolio.com/bizjournals study, belongs to Austin, the state's capital and the center of a thriving metro with 1.7 million residents. A six-part formula was used to analyze the nation’s 100 largest metros, looking for the places that are most conducive to the creation and development of small businesses.

McKinney schools won’t be receiving funds from the federal government’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top program, as governor Rick Perry has decided Texas will not be submitting an application for what is being billed as a national competition to advance school reform. Under the program, the state would have been eligible for up to $700 million in grants if it earned points in such areas as turning around failing schools, showing improvement in teacher effectiveness, and having quality charter schools.