Raleigh in North Carolina came out on top. Milken Institute Raleigh was the best-performing large city in the U.S., based on the 13 metrics used in the study, rising from second position last year.

That’s a key takeaway from a newly released report by nonprofit the Milken Institute that assesses U.S. cities small and large across a range of factors that fuel and reflect economic success.

When people think of a city, they often imagine a large, densely populated urban area. But in China, the definition can be very different. The country has something called prefecture-level ...