CNNMoney.com - Best Places to Launch

CNNMoney.com

MSA: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
Best places ranking: #7 among midsize metro areas
Population: 378,935

If your business involves efficient transport of goods, Temple may be just the place to launch. Located southeast of the Fort Hood military installation, Temple sits right on Interstate 35, one of the country's major north-to-south corridors that nearly reaches the Canadian border.

Not surprisingly, Temple is home to several large distribution businesses, including one of Wal-Mart's. Over the last three years, Gulf States Toyota and HEB Grocery, a regional supermarket chain, have set up distribution centers here. In addition to superb highway access, the city has a short-line railroad that's ideal for companies with warehouse traffic for transcontinental transport.

Like most of Texas, Temple, now in a growth pattern, is extremely business-friendly and has aggressively low taxes. The city's incentive package for new businesses includes tax rebates, a fast-track to obtaining permits associated with specific manufacturing needs, and even free land -- on a case-by-case basis -- on which to build your brick-and-mortar facility. -Coeli Carr