This accolade follows many others for the Tulsa area, which has popped up on other Forbes lists and assorted rankings compiled by other sources throughout the year.

To create this particular list, Forbes ranked the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in five categories: unemployment rate, gross metropolitan product, foreclosures, home prices and sales rates.

The magazine used data from different sources to create its rankings in the various categories. September unemployment rankings, for example, were compiled using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Forbes then averaged the scores for each measure to come up with its overall rankings.

“I think it’s really important,” said Bob Ball, economic research manager for the Tulsa Metro Chamber. “It’s a good source, and we have been consistently on the good side of their lists for the last several months.”

Although the Tulsa area hit an economic slump, it probably didn’t take quite as big a hit as many other areas, Ball said.

“If you look at the numbers, we’ve been faring better than much of the country all through the recession,” he said. “It just means that we are in recovery, No. 1; we’re not still declining. That just bodes well for Oklahoma and the Midwestern part of the world, where economic life has been much more conservative in terms of home prices and home loans, and incomes have been firm.”

No region has escaped the recession, but diversified industry and relatively stable housing have given residents a measure of economic security in some areas, including Omaha, Neb., some Texas metropolitan areas, a handful of Northeastern manufacturing bases and select southern cities, according to Forbes.

The Tulsa area is much more diversified than it was in 2003, when the area had a heavy concentration of jobs in air transportation and telecommunications, both of which took a big hit because of the worldwide situation, Ball said.

Since then, people have come to realize that the oil and gas industry remains important for the area, the economist said. Health care is growing and is an export industry that brings in money from outlying states and rural areas, he added.

Among individual categories in the Forbes’ ranking, the Tulsa area was No. 13 for its September unemployment rate of 7 percent. Oklahoma City ranked No. 4 with its 5.9 percent rate.

Tulsa ranked No. 41 for the change in gross metropolitan product between the first and second quarters of 2009, while Oklahoma City ranked No. 6.

Earlier this year, Forbes named the Tulsa area No. 2 in the midsize category for being among the “Best Cities for Job Growth” and 47th out of 200 large metro areas for “Best Places for Business and Careers.”

Tulsa also was ranked No. 5 on a new list of “America’s Most Livable Cities.”

1. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa

2. San Antonio, Texas

3. Austin-Round Rock, Texas

4. Pittsburgh, Pa.

5. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.

6. Dallas-Forth Worth-Arlington, Texas

7. Rochester, N.Y.

8. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas

9. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

10. Baton Rouge, La.

12. Tulsa

13. Oklahoma City

Source: Forbes