Factors like housing market and higher education institutions attract employers to a city, and Forbes magazine ranked Raleigh-Cary as the No. 1 best U.S. city for jobs.

Forbes compiled these rankings using the following five data points, all weighing equally: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living.

Raleigh ended up topping the list of 25 by meeting all the five points and excelling in all of them.

Forbes‘ ranking of Raleigh brings good news to the city, as well as students and faculty at N.C. State.

“Raleigh should be proud because that means we are ranked along all the other major cities in the country and to be so small compared to New York or Chicago or Atlanta, we are outstanding,” Traci Pearce, a senior in business management, said. “I think that says a lot in itself.”

Jeff Sackaroff, director of undergraduate career services for the College of Management, said it is absolutely something for which Raleigh should be proud.

“What a great honor for [Raleigh] to be recognized by such a prestigious magazine,” Sackaroff said. “The secret about Raleigh has been out for a while, and the fact that Forbes noticed it will only help the area grow.”

David Baumer, department head of business management, also agrees that Raleigh should be proud of its rank on the Forbes list.

“Undoubtedly, part of the reason for its high rank in the Forbes survey is fortuitous, but a lot of the reason for the high rank is just good planning,” Baumer said. “Certainly, Raleigh has not had to deal with abandoned automobile plants and steel mills.”

Much of RaleighÕs success can be attributed to the Research Triangle Park, Forbes.com wrote.

Baumer said RTP has created a lot of synergy with UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and N.C. State.

“Research Triangle Park was planned and has attracted world leaders in high-tech [research and development] in several industries,” he said. “The bottom line is that some visionary decisions by North Carolina leaders in the 1970s led to Raleigh’s No. 1 ranking.”

Pearce said Raleigh has a very educated population and that is very attractive to people if they are thinking about relocating or bringing their business.

“Over the past few years, we have seen some top-caliber companies relocate to Raleigh,” Sackaroff said. “This did not happen by accident.”

NCSU’s business and engineering programs are on the radar screens of many companies who are looking at areas to relocate to, Sackaroff said.

“Some of the businesses who have recently moved to the RTP area have brought portions of their companies that are more likely to hire engineering students,” Leslie Rand-Pickett, assistant director of the Career Center, said.

Baumer said NCSU benefits area businesses by offering spinoffs from faculty-created technology, such as SAS in Cary.

“There have also been a number of small businesses whose origins can be traced to NCSU,” he said. “I am most familiar with the College of Management, which has a number of centers and initiatives that promote partnerships with area businesses, but other NCSU colleges have their own initiative and relationships with area businesses.”

In 2002 when Sackaroff first came to NCSU, he said the annual College of Management career fair attracted 35 companies.

“Now, we are doing two career fairs a year, each attracting more than 90 employers,” he said. “I attribute this to both a growing job market, as well as the excellent reputation of the students in the College of Management.”

The student placement rate at the time of graduation is well above average, Sackaroff said.

“Employers realize that students who graduate from NCSU can compete with students from any other college in the area,” he said.

Most of the students in the College of Management and the business management department are attracted by the prospect of better-paying starting jobs and more rewarding careers, Baumer said.

“As a business major it is good to know that when you get out of school or even before, you have a good percentage chance of getting a job right out as opposed to waiting and having to find a job if you went to school in another area of the state,” Pearce said.