The result is a list of the 20 fastest growing metro areas in America in terms of population and economy.

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Meanwhile, Moody's Economy.com projects unemployment in the L.A. metro area will increase by two percentage points by the end of next year, to about 10%.

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Combined with Salt Lake City, a respectable 17th on the large metro area list, the Wasatch Front appears to be a real comer in the information economy.

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The Boise, Id. metro (No. 7) is seen as a dangerous market in part because its small economy is heavily dependent on a few large employers, including semiconductor company Micron Technology, which suffered severe job losses during the recession.

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Maybe attesting to increasingly dynamic labor markets, a key difference between U.S. and, for example, German and Japanese labor markets, the data seem to show a U.S. economy on the rise. (Read Price Stability In 75% of US. Metro Areas By Year-End, Double-Dip Looms).

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Finally, we divided each metro area's average debt per household by May 2009 median household income, determined by Moody's Economy.com, an independent provider of economic analysis and data.

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