The Milken Institute, nonpartisan think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif., recently unveiled its annual list of top metropolitan areas for "high-tech industry." California dominated the list, with the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and San Francisco making the top 10.

"Silicon Valley's unique ecosystem of collaborating agents has an unmatched ability to spawn entrepreneurial firms that create new products, services, and even entire industries,
while sustaining major high-tech anchor firms that remain at the leading edge of innovation in their industries," states the Milken report (PDF). The top 10:

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
2. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
3. Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA
4. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
5. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
6. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX
7. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
8. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA
9. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
10.San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA