City climbs higher

It's been nearly eight years since the New York Times shredded Leigh Acres, east of Fort Myers, as the “American dream in high reverse” for its sky-high foreclosure rate and job losses.

But the town has battled back. Its latest forward move: The city was named the third-fastest growing city nationwide in a comprehensive survey from financial data firm WalletHub. Fort Myers was No. 14 on the survey, while Brandon, in Hillsborough County, ranked No. 16.

WalletHub evaluated more than 500 cities on 14 metrics with the data spanning from 2009 to 2015 in most categories. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing optimal economic growth. The final scores were calculated using the weighted average across all metrics.