While things are relatively tight in much of the nation, some localities are worse off than others. Indeed.com assessed job markets in the 50 largest American cities to see which had the most unemployed workers per job posting.

Here are the places with the worst ratios:

1. Detroit: 18-1
2. Miami: 10-1
3. Riverside, Calif.: 9-1
4. Los Angeles: 8-1
5. Portland, Ore.: 7-1
6. Chicago: 7-1
7. Rochester, N.Y.: 6-1
8. Sacramento: 6-1
9. Orlando: 6-1
10. Buffalo: 6-1
11. St. Louis: 6-1

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Forbes recently examined the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States to figure out which housing markets have yet to reach bottom. Spending power, unemployment, housing and credit availability for the last 27 years were factored into the mix.

Using calculations from Moody’s, it was determined how much each area’s home prices would have to drop to create a state of balance. For some, that means more bad times to come.

Which areas can anticipate the biggest decline?

Here’s the list:

T10. New York City: 23 percent

T10. San Diego: 23 percent

T8. Oakland, Calif.: 25 percent

T8. Las Vegas: 25 percent

6. Phoenix: 27 percent

5. Los Angeles: 29 percent

4. Tampa: 36 percent

3. Jacksonville: 39 percent

2. Miami: 53 percent

1. Orlando: 48 percent

To check out the details on why things are looking so bleak in these communities, visit Forbes.

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A new national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that 46 percent of the American public would like to live in a different type of community than the one in which they currently reside. City dwellers, in particular, seem to be suffering from wanderlust.

So, where does everyone want to go? Those mountains and ski resorts may be getting even more crowded, since Denver tops the nation’s “wish” list.

Who else might be about to see a population surge? Here are the top 10, according to Pew:

Denver
San Diego
Seattle
Orlando
Tampa
San Francisco
Phoenix
Portland
Sacramento
San Antonio

To read about the survey, and to see the rest of the list, visit Pew Research Center.

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Ancient computers. Outdated software. Systems your average teenager wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

Fortunately, that isn’t the norm.

Forbes is out with a list of America’s Most Wired Cities. Since 2007, the publication has computed the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet to see which towns were on the cutting edge. The number of public wireless Internet hot spots are factored in, too.

Who’s No. 1 at the start of 2009? None other than Seattle, home to Microsoft and Amazon.com.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Seattle

2. Atlanta

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Orlando

5. Boston

6. Miami

7. Minneapolis

8. Denver

9. New York

10. Baltimore

To see the rest, and to read more about how the rankings were determined, visit Forbes.

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Despite the housing market struggles and a downturn in gaming revenues, Las Vegas still beckons to people looking for a fresh start, according to an analysis of moving requests from 2008 by Relocation.com. The data revealed that on a per-capita basis for cities with more than 1 million people, Las Vegas retained its top spot as the No. 1 destination for people looking to make a long distance state-to-state move.

Although the recession has spared no one area of the country, cities in the West and South continue to appeal to people relocating, whether it is moving to take a new job or finding a new home with more solid economic opportunities.

Here are the top cities that people are expected to move to:

1. Las Vegas
2. Denver
3. Charlotte, N.C.
4. Phoenix/Mesa
5. Portland, Ore.
6. Seattle
7. Orlando, Fla.
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Atlanta
10. Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla.

Based on requests for moving quotes in 2008 and leading into 2009, the data is a strong indicator of consumer behavior for the coming year. Michigan and Ohio are declining likely due to automotive industry and other manufacturing job losses. However, North and South Carolina have gained and are expected to keep gaining.

For every 100 people looking to move to Michigan, 210 were looking to move out of the state. Ohioans also saw more people relocating: for every 100 people looking to move to Ohio, 150 requested moving quotes to move out of state.

The biggest beneficiary of these population displacements is North Carolina, which saw nearly 80 percent more requests to move to North Carolina than to leave (for every 100 people requesting moving quotes to leave the state, 180 indicated they wanted to move to it). South Carolina also saw a jump with nearly 70 percent more requests to move to the state than to leave, while Texas saw 66 percent more, and Georgia saw 36 percent more.

Relocation.com analyzed nearly 500,000 moving quote requests in 2008 to determine where people are moving. Figures from the U.S. census bureau indicate that 34 million people moved between 2007 and 2008. The company estimates that about three out of four people who make an inquiry on the Relocation.com family of sites, actually move within 12 months, representing nearly 3 percent of all Americans who move. The Census Bureau says the vast majority of movers in the U.S. make local moves; according to 2006 data, 62 percent of people making a move stayed within the same county, while 20 percent moved to a different county but within the same state. Fourteen percent moved state to state, while 3 percent moved from abroad.

Source: Relocation.com

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Thomson Reuters released its annual study identifying hospitals that demonstrated the fastest, most consistent improvement in the nation over five consecutive years. Nine of the 100 leading hospitals are in Texas. Florida and New York are each home to eight, and Pennsylvania boasts seven. Kentucky and Tennessee each have six winning hospitals, and California and Michigan have five apiece.

The study rated hospitals on eight factors — patient mortality, medical complications, patient safety, length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, and use of evidence-based medicine. Researchers evaluated 2,867 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals grouped into five categories: major teaching hospitals, other teaching hospitals, large community hospitals, medium-sized community hospitals, and small community hospitals.

Here are the winning hospitals, by category:

Major Teaching Hospitals

• University Medical Center – Tucson, AZ
• Christiana Care Health System – Wilmington, DE
• Shands at the University of Florida – Gainesville, FL
• University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics – Iowa City, IA
• Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center – Boston, MA
• Baystate Medical Center – Springfield, MA
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Boston, MA
• Henry Ford Hospital – Detroit, MI
• The Mount Sinai Medical Center – New York, NY
• New York Hospital Queens – Flushing, NY
• Westchester Medical Center – Valhalla, NY
• Duke University Hospital – Durham, NC
• Allegheny General Hospital – Pittsburgh, PA
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center – Nashville, TN
• Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center – Houston, TX

Teaching Hospitals

• St. Bernards Medical Center – Jonesboro, AR
• St. Anthony Central Hospital – Denver, CO
• Florida Hospital – Orlando, FL
• Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare – Tallahassee, FL
• OSF Saint Francis Medical Center – Peoria, IL
• Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center-South Bend – South Bend, IN
• Via Christi Regional Medical Center – Wichita, KS
• Bronson Methodist Hospital – Kalamazoo, MI
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland – Pontiac, MI
• McLaren Regional Medical Center – Flint, MI
• St. Cloud Hospital – St. Cloud, MN
• Valley Hospital Medical Center – Las Vegas, NV
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center – Livingston, NJ
• Altru Hospital – Grand Forks, ND
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center – Portland, OR
• Saint Vincent Health Center – Erie, PA
• Heritage Valley Beaver – Beaver, PA
• PinnacleHealth – Harrisburg, PA
• Robert Packer Hospital – Sayre, PA
• Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis – Memphis, TN
• CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi – Corpus Christi, TX
• Methodist Dallas Medical Center – Dallas, TX
• Medical Center Hospital – Odessa, TX
• Corpus Christi Medical Center – Corpus Christi, TX
• Meriter Hospital – Madison, WI

Large Community Hospitals

• Jackson Hospital – Montgomery, AL
• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Oakland, CA
• St. Bernardine Medical Center – San Bernardino, CA
• Saddleback Memorial Medical Center – Laguna Hills, CA
• NCH Downtown Naples Hospital – Naples, FL
• Flagler Hospital – St. Augustine, FL
• Boca Raton Community Hospital – Boca Raton, FL
• Rockford Memorial Hospital – Rockford, IL
• Hardin Memorial Hospital – Elizabethtown, KY
• Western Baptist Hospital – Paducah, KY
• Shady Grove Adventist Hospital – Rockville, MD
• Allegiance Health – Jackson, MI
• Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare – New Hartford, NY
• Orange Regional Medical Center – Goshen, NY
• Rex Healthcare – Raleigh, NC
• Genesis HealthCare System – Zanesville, OH
• Saint Thomas Hospital – Nashville, TN
• Citizens Medical Center – Victoria, TX
• CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System – Texarkana, TX
• Providence Everett Medical Center – Everett, WA

Medium Community Hospitals

• Brooksville Regional Hospital – Brooksville, FL
• Oconee Regional Medical Center – Milledgeville, GA
• Adventist GlenOaks Hospital – Glendale Heights, IL
• Mary Greeley Medical Center – Ames, IA
• Murray-Calloway County Hospital – Murray, KY
• Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center – Danville, KY
• Saint Joseph East – Lexington, KY
• Grenada Lake Medical Center – Grenada, MS
• Bolivar Medical Center – Cleveland, MS
• San Juan Regional Medical Center – Farmington, NM
• Olean General Hospital – Olean, NY
• St. James Mercy Hospital – Hornell, NY
• Rutherford Hospital, Inc. – Rutherfordton, NC
• Medcenter One Hospital – Bismarck, ND
• Pocono Medical Center – East Stroudsburg, PA
• Cookeville Regional Medical Center – Cookeville, TN
• Paris Regional Medical Center – Paris, TX
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center – Christiansburg, VA
• Aurora West Allis Medical Center – West Allis, WI
• Aurora BayCare Medical Center – Green Bay, WI

Small Community Hospitals

• St. Elizabeth Community Hospital – Red Bluff, CA
• Doctors Hospital of Manteca – Manteca, CA
• Jackson County Hospital District – Marianna, FL
• The King’s Daughters’ Hospital & Health Services – Madison, IN
• St. Joseph Regional Medical Center-Plymouth – Plymouth, IN
• Newton Medical Center – Newton, KS
• Mercy Regional Health Center – Manhattan, KS
• Baptist Hospital Northeast – LaGrange, KY
• Falmouth Hospital – Falmouth, MA
• Trace Regional Hospital – Houston, MS
• Hannibal Regional Hospital – Hannibal, MO
• Northern Montana Hospital – Havre, MT
• Corning Hospital – Corning, NY
• INTEGRIS Baptist Regional Health Center – Miami, OK
• Gettysburg Hospital – Gettysburg, PA
• St. Mary’s Healthcare Center – Pierre, SD
• St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County – LaFollette, TN
• Baptist Hospital of Cocke County – Newport, TN
• Ennis Regional Medical Center – Ennis, TX
• Aurora Medical Center – Two Rivers, WI

For more information, go to Thomson Reuters.

Source: Thomson Reuters