Casting Des Moines as the slow but steady tortoise that wins the race, Marketwatch named the city No. 1 on its list of best U.S. cities for business.

“This year’s victor is the subdued terrapin of regional economies,” Marketwatch wrote in announcing the results of its third annual survey. “The city has grown over the past 20 years, built up its downtown region and lured a number of businesses to the area. All the while, it remains a smaller city with manageable commutes and better air quality,” the report said.

Greater Des Moines crossed the finish line ahead of some major metropolitan areas, including Washington, D.C., which was ranked second, seventh-ranked Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth, which was ninth on the list. Omaha and Minneapolis-St. Paul were ranked third and fourth, respectively.

“How did this small metropolis plunked down in the middle of corn country win out?” Marketwatch pondered. “Nothing flashy, really. It just had above-average scores in every one of 10 metrics that MarketWatch examined. Well, not just above average; it was in the top fourth of all but one metric.”

Des Moines’ strongest performance was in the unemployment metric, where it had the third-best ranking of all 101 cities, with a September unemployment rate of 6 percent. The national average for that month was 9.8 percent.

Among the cities that placed in the survey’s bottom 10 were Youngstown, Ohio (101), Fresno, Calif. (100) and Scranton, Pa. (99)

Gone from last year’s top 10 are Richmond, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, Tenn. and San Francisco.

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