Business Week, using data from the Brooking Institution's MetroMonitor study, reports the Austin-Round Rock metro area is the nation's second strongest economy, based on job growth, employment, economic growth and home prices.

Employment was measured by the change from the peak quarter for each metro to the second quarter of 2009. The peak was the quarter in which the metro had the most jobs during the past five years. Unemployment was ranked by measuring the percentage-point change from the first quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2009. Gross metropolitan product was measured from the peak quarter to the second quarter of 2009. And the ranking of home prices compared the second quarter of 2009 to the previous quarter.

Here are the Austin-Round Rock metro area rankings:

• Job growth (since peak) rank: 2
• Gross Metro Product (since peak) rank: 2
• Unemployment change (year over year) rank: 16
• Home price change (year over year) rank: 18

The employment data were provided by Moody's Economy.com, the unemployment data were collected from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the home price index came from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.