The best small cities for career growth

Frisco, Flower Mound and McKinney are considered among the best smaller cities in the U.S. for career opportunities.

What they found: A Coworking Cafe study of 298 cities with populations under 250,000 ranked the three North Texas towns in the top 20.

• The report evaluated cities on wage growth, unemployment levels, number of companies and incomes.

Zoom in: The median income in No. 11 Frisco is $145,444 and there are 3,050 possible employers per 100,000 residents.

• Flower Mound at No. 15 is "one of Texas' most affluent suburbs."
• McKinney was ranked at 20 because of its wage growth and median income level of $124,177.

Reality check: Most of the "small" cities on the list are suburbs of much larger booming metros.

• No. 1 Alpharetta, Georgia, is about an hour north of Atlanta, similar to McKinney's distance from Dallas.