The Milken Institution is out with its annual Best-Performing Cities Index, and as with most things this year, the COVID-19 pandemic had a hand at shaping the list. The index measures economic vitality in 200 large metropolitan areas, those with populations greater than 300,000. This year’s list takes into consideration jobs, wages, high-tech growth, housing affordability, and household broadband access.

“The pandemic has had an outsized impact on cities where the economic effects of the current recession are exacerbated by high housing costs,” said Kevin Klowden, executive director of the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics and California Center.

“What you’re seeing, particularly this year is that the cities that have done the best of that, what we consider our top tier, are cities that are building on infrastructure and activities that they had already set up in many ways. These are all cities with knowledge base industries, all cities that really have strong economies,” said Klowden.

States from around the U.S. were represented on this year’s list:

1. Provo-Orem, Utah

2. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida

3. Austin-Round Rock, Texas

4. Salt Lake City, Utah

5. Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina

6. Boise, Idaho

7. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona

8. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee

9. Ogden-Clearfield, Utah

10. Huntsville, Alabama

11. Denver, Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado

12. Fort Collins, Colorado

13. Seattle, Bellevue-Kent, Washington

Utah comes in strong, with three cities in the top 10, including the number one entry — the Provo-Orem area.

“As a place right now it is doing very well for itself,” says Misael Galdamez, senior policy analyst for the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics. He tells Yahoo Finance that every single metro area in the state of Utah met tier-one criteria on Milken’s list.

What makes Provo so successful, according to Galdamez, is its strong "innovation ecosystem," rooted in Brigham Young University's (BYU) main campus there. Galdamez also tells Yahoo Finance that Provo, unlike other tech-centered areas like San Francisco, has affordable housing and lifestyle costs. These traits are also shared with Salt Lake City, which comes fourth.

“Salt Lake City is very similar to Provo. It has a pretty strong tech sector. It also has developed financial and professional services. So it’s industrial basis is pretty diversified, and has the kinds of jobs that can survive COVID. It also has a lot of middle-skill kinds of jobs like health-tech manufacturing that can provide workers with middle-class existence.”

Palm Bay, Florida — known as the “Space Coast” due to its proximity to Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — primarily for its institutional assets, such as in the defense and aerospace industries.