Iowa’s capital city has won another top ranking for its economic development efforts, according to a new report.

Policom Corp., a Florida-based economic research firm, ranked Des Moines No. 1 in its 2014 economic strength list.

Des Moines went up against 380 other metro areas around the U.S. for the ranking.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro has slowly been on the rise in the Policom rankings. In 2004, the metro ranked 28th, but had moved up to sixth by 2011 and then second in 2012 and 2013.

Policom’s list is intended to “study the characteristics of strong and weak economies,” the firm said in its 2014 report. The higher the rank, the more rapid and consistent growth a metro area has.

Des Moines beat out the Austin-Round Rock, Texas metro area and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (D.C.-Va.-Md.-W. Va.)
metros for the tops spot. Those metros took second and third place, respectively.

Other Iowa metros that ranked on the 2014 list include:

•Omaha-Council Bluffs at 8, up from 13 last year
•Ames at 151, down from 135
•Cedar Rapids at 30, up from 54
•Davenport-Moline-Rock Island at 82, up from 106
•Dubuque at 144, up from 158
•Iowa City at 52, up from 68
•Sioux City at 184, up from 220
•Waterloo-Cedar Falls at 170, up from 192
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