Yuba City ranked No. 7 on the Milken Institute's 2017 list of best-performing small cities, which the think tank, which is focused on promoting economic growth, released earlier in January. Compared with 2016, that is a major move upward for the Sutter County city, since it was No. 45 in that ranking.

Healthcare, tourism, manufacturing, high-tech sectors and housing-related businesses set the top performers apart in this year’s small cities ranking, according to Milken. In the case of Yuba City, which lies north of Sacramento, its growing healthcare industry helped put it in the top 10 on the latest list.

More than 7,700 people now work in healthcare in greater Yuba City, a 420-person increase compared with 2016, the study noted. Fremont-Rideout Health Group, which employs 2,200 people, has helped shift economic growth from the region’s agriculture sector and the distribution facilities that support it.

Bend-Redmond, Oregon, topped the 2017 Small Cities Index, followed by St. George, Utah; Gainesville, Georgia; Wenatchee, Washington; and Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana.

Yuba City was ahead of Bellingham, Washington; Columbus, Indiana; and Auburn-Opelika, Alabama, in the top 10.

The 2017 Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metro areas by how well they create and sustain jobs and economic growth. Index components include job, wage and salary and technology growth.

In most years, the organization said, the ranking gives a good indication of the underlying structural performance of regional economics.