Houston, Texas -among the elite in the logistics industry in the US and receives five stars in seven of the 10 major logistics categories.

In their seventh annual study released this month, Expansion Management and Logistics Today magazines identifies the metro areas that can provide manufacturing companies with the strongest and most robust logistics infrastructure.

For the past seven years, Expansion Management and Logistics Today magazines have partnered to produce what they call their annual Logistics Quotient™ ranking of the most logistics-friendly cities in the United States.

As in years past, the study takes a look at the 362 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) established by the Office of Management and Budget and compares them according to 10 major categories: the overall transportation & warehousing industry climate, work force/labor costs/availability/skill levels; road/highway basic infrastructure; road density and congestion; road and bridge conditions; interstate highway access (both main and auxiliary routes); fuel taxes & fees; railroad service; water ports (both river/lake and ocean); and air cargo service.

A standard feature of Expansion Management’s various annual metro “Quotient” studies is the awarding of the “5-Star” designation to the top 20 percent of the MSAs. Metros that earn this distinction can rightfully consider themselves to be among the elite logistics cities. Houston ranked in the 99th percentile in the overall 2007 study, the highest overall rating for this year’s study and was given to only four other cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

Houston received the 5-Star rating in the following seven of the 10 major individual logistics categories: