INC Magazine has named the St. George metro area, which includes all of Washington County, the second-best place in the entire nation to do business.

It's the third year in a row that St. George has been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 by the magazine. Midland, Tex., edged out St. George for the top spot in 2008.

The ranking of 335 metro areas across the U.S. is not weighted by population, so smaller cities are judged and ranked by the same criteria as the biggest American metropolis.

INC used a weighted summary of U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics that took into account short- and long-term employment growth rates.

Small cities, those with under 150,000 jobs, occupy 18 of the top 25 places in the INC rankings. Other Utah cities also fared well, including Provo-Orem ranked No. 7 and Salt Lake City at No. 22.

The magazine cited St. George's scenery and access to outdoor recreation opportunities, and well as the city's location - within one day's truck drive of nearly any city between Denver and the West Coast - as reasons for its growth.

INC also pointed out that St. George housing is still cheap compared to California.

Joining Midland and St. George in INC's top five cities are Coeur d'Alene, Ida., Odessa, Tex., and Auburn-Opelika, Ala.

At the bottom of INC's list were a number of cities from the economically stagnant upper Midwest - Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Cities from those three states occupied the last 16 spots among the 335 metro areas. The Detroit metro area was ranked dead last.

To read the INC report go to http://www.inc.com/bestcities/2008