10. Yuma, AZ: Up 2.6%
Located on the California and Mexico borders, Yuma’s access to Mexican markets has attracted several Fortune 500 companies, including International Paper, Carrier, and Shaw Industries. It’s also home to two military installations—the Yuma Proving Ground, which tests military equipment, and the Marine Corps Air Station—and a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station. All told, the number of federal government jobs is up 7 percent since 2000, and the number of state and local jobs jumped 23 percent. Another attraction is the weather—the sun shines 90 percent of the time, bringing in some 85,000 snowbird RV’ers in 2010.
