(FORTUNE Magazine) – ASK A BUNCH OF CEOs about their favorite cities and you'll probably hear them evaluate urban life the same way anyone else would. They love San Francisco for the Bay and the restaurants, Seattle for its mountains and relaxed lifestyle, or perhaps Chicago because it's nearly as charged up as New York but not quite as dirty. Great images carry these particular cities and others a long way, and they will always attract companies. But they are not among FORTUNE's top ten cities for business, because they fall short in what has become the most important draw in corporate relocation: plentiful, high- quality, low-cost labor. The cities that made the cut aren't necessarily the best known or most adored. Fred Rollins III, marketing chief for Delta Air Lines in Salt Lake City (No. 1), says, ''People have a misperception that we're backward, that everyone wears wide-brimmed hats and we're out in the boonies, while in many ways we're very progressive.'' To escape stereotypes and evaluate labor markets objectively, FORTUNE asked the corporate relocation consulting firm Moran Stahl & Boyer to survey human resources executives in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Then FORTUNE and MS&B analyzed all sorts of information that measures worker quality and helps delineate availability not only today but also in the future. Extensive interviews and visits to several of the cities helped FORTUNE rank the top ten. In reading the profiles, it helps to know what's behind a few important measures. The labor market stress index indicates the availability of workers. The higher the score, the tighter the labor market (the U.S. average is 100). MS&B derived the figures by tracking unemployment, changes in annual wages, and employment growth vs. expansion of the local labor pool since 1984. The U.S. population should increase 4% in the next five years; average 1989 unemployment was 5.3%. The average white-collar salaries for each metro area are for workers in finance, insurance, and real estate. The U.S. average in 1987 was $25,326; the average manufacturing salary was $25,473. In a few cases SAT scores are identical for city and suburbs because these places report only areawide scores. The U.S. average SAT score was 908; the average ACT score was 18.8. Following the profiles of the ten best cities are descriptions of the remaining 40 metropolitan areas, in alphabetical order.

1 SALT LAKE CITY -- Everyone thinks it's in the middle of nowhere, but Salt Lake City is the only major Western spot within 850 miles of Phoenix, Denver, Seattle, and all major California cities. Its highways are excellent, and the airport is an easy ten-minute ride from downtown. Since Delta made it a hub, Salt Lake City has more flights than any other city its size. Taxes are moderate; city and state carry AAA bond ratings from Moody's. Literacy is the highest in the U.S., but school classes are large even though Utah spends heavily on education. Mormons produce large families, meaning more children per taxpayer. Quality of life is good, particularly if you ski; city buses reach four resorts. Downtown is dead, but a planned $500 million redevelopment should revive it. Liquor laws are loosening. In restaurants, come July, you'll be able to order a drink much as in any other major city.

2 MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL , -- Out-of-the-way, self-reliant, civic-minded, and Democratic, this urban pocket on the Northern Plains reflects the values of the Scandinavians who settled in the area. Painfully high corporate and personal income taxes go for heavy expenditures on education, welfare, transportation, and parks. The system works. Minneapolis/St. Paul is among America's cleanest, safest metropolitan areas. Schools are outstanding. Businesses here shell out for status: 135 companies donate at least 2% of pretax profits to charities or local arts groups, and 25 give 10% or more. Minneapolis is Protestant, slightly funky, fun, the main business center. St. Paul is Roman Catholic, the state capital, and the site of more private liberal arts colleges per capita than any other U.S. city. Homogeneity is declining; minorities are 5% of the work force, 15% of schoolchildren. Average January temperature: 12 degrees F.

3 ATLANTA -- The hub of the South is not too Southern anymore. Local bigwigs -- surprisingly few of them native Georgians -- boast of the area's fine climate, affordable housing, first-class international airport and rapid transit, scores of golf courses, and unusually lively social organizations. The city proper is 70% black, and poor, with inferior schools and one of America's highest crime rates. But Atlanta is a city in transition: Amid abandoned buildings off Peachtree Street, a marble-laden IBM tower, a brand- new AT&T building, and other offices scrape the sky. In Buckhead, to the north, million-dollar mansions aren't far from a messy mix of malls, hotels, and corporate centers. Gwinnett County, where Japanese companies cluster, is the fastest-growing in the U.S. Once-again Mayor Maynard Jackson, disliked by business when he served in the Seventies, is making friends. While vowing to refocus on inner-city neighborhoods, he says, ''I'm pro-business and pro- growth.''

4 SACRAMENTO -- This is the first major noncoastal California city to make it big on business relocation maps. Besides productive and loyal workers, Sacramento offers homes at half the prices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and generally better schools. It's also not prone to earthquakes because it doesn't sit on a major fault. In many ways Sacramento is still an unsophisticated agricultural town (you sometimes smell the tomatoes as you drive in from the airport) and sleepy government center, but that's changing fast. Buildings didn't used to get higher than the wedding-cake state capitol, but a 30-story Wells Fargo building will soon supplant sleek, black Renaissance Tower, nicknamed ''Darth Vader,'' as the tallest. Residents drive less than two hours to ski Lake Tahoe, sail San Francisco Bay, or hike the Sierras. A deepwater channel to the Bay makes the city a decent shipping point. Local executives long for better air service: There are no direct flights to New York.

5 AUSTIN -- ''Austin isn't part of Texas -- it's Austin,'' says Bruce Aumack, personnel manager at IBM's operation there. ''It's not isolated or barren -- and it's got hills.'' It's also growing faster and has better schools and lower labor costs than its bigger sisters Dallas and Houston. More of its residents have college degrees than do those of any other of the top 50 areas except Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. The University of Texas at Austin, with 50,000 students, has become one of America's premier research universities and supplies a steady stream of skilled graduates to high-tech employers. That's one reason Sematech and MCC, two major high-tech consortiums, placed operations in Austin. Hurt by state government layoffs in the past decade and by a plunge in its sky-high real estate market, Austin offers plenty of workers and lots of empty office space. And there's no better place to come if you've got a song in your heart: The city's Sixth Street is known for its terrific music scene.

6 COLUMBUS -- A center for banking, insurance, and finance, Ohio's third-largest metropolis offers affordable housing and good schools in an ethnically diverse city with plenty of recreational facilities and parks. Executives rate it among the most attractive business location sites. Manufacturing salaries are high, white-collar pay is low, and the work ethic is outstanding. Downtown is being resurrected. Columbus City Center, a shopping mall across from the Statehouse, opened last year with big-name stores like Brooks Brothers, Gucci, and Ann Taylor. Less conventional culture is found in the Short North section, marked by art galleries and jazz clubs. The architecture of the $43 million Wexner Center, a visual and performing arts facility named for Limited CEO Leslie Wexner, who gave $25 million, has received more attention than the art inside. Crack remains a problem in the inner city. Traffic is getting to be a worry. You can fly to Chicago in an hour and New York in 90 minutes.

7 DALLAS/FORT WORTH ! -- The Metroplex, as this vast nine-county stretch of land is known, attracted 66,000 newcomers last year. The big draws: affordable homes, low state and local taxes, and the smell of economic recovery. Exxon recently moved headquarters from Manhattan to Las Colinas, a fancy office, residential, and retail development near the airport with Venetian canals and four 18-hole golf courses. Other prime business spots: northern suburbs like Richardson and Plano, which have the good schools that Dallas and Fort Worth proper lack. First-class office space in the suburbs is a bargain at $11.50 a square foot. Executives who work in downtown Dallas are best off living nearby in Highland Park or University Park, oases within the city that have their own governments, police forces, and schools. Weekends aren't what they used to be since the Cowboys fell off their horse. There's not a whole lot to do for recreation deep in the heart of hot, humid Texas.

8 PHOENIX -- A steady influx of newcomers will keep the labor force growing faster than jobs, guaranteeing a loose labor market despite the city's low unemployment rate. Schools excel, workers are well educated, and a large community college system answers business's needs. Just a handful of FORTUNE 500 headquarters means you'll probably have to look elsewhere for executives, but you can stay close to home for other employees, among the least unionized in the 50 areas studied. The population is 80% white, 13% Hispanic, 3% black. Office and residential real estate is remarkably inexpensive, the result of overbuilding and of Arizona's many S&L failures. The city is full of vacant lots, and air pollution is still a problem, but the mountains are within easy reach. Sections of a much-needed 230-mile freeway project are complete, relieving traffic within the city. Sky Harbor International Airport is slated to open a $26 million international concourse in February.

9 JACKSONVILLE -- A Florida success story without scads of tourists and retirees? That's right. A fast-growing center for service companies of all stripes, especially financial services firms, the area receives steady in-migration, keeping wages low and the labor market loose. The median age is a young 32. Schools aren't exceptional, and fewer than 17% of residents have college degrees, but Florida's generous job training programs and low taxes help compensate. Drugs are a problem, and crime rates are high. Downtown has brightened with the arrival of Jacksonville Landing, a shopping and eating development designed by Rouse Co., beside the St. Johns River. Winters are mild, summers uncomfortably hot and humid. On bad days you may be hit by the odor of two nearby paper mills and chemical plants -- ''the smell of money,'' natives used to joke -- a reminder of slow-growth, economically depressed days. The city's free annual jazz festival is a better symbol of its condition.

10 OKLAHOMA CITY -- ''America's back-office front-runner,'' as the city touts itself, is working hard to attract service industries to revitalize an economy sapped by the long energy slump. With many residents unemployed or overqualified for their positions, white-collar wages are low. The housing and commercial real estate markets are a buyer's paradise, and although inner-city public schools are substandard, the city and state offer some of America's best job training and adult education. The city limits enclose a sweeping 624 square miles. The downtown redeveloped by I. M. Pei isn't buzzing with activity, but the elongated botanical walkway in Myriad Gardens and the Omniplex planetarium offer New Age leisure-time alternatives to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Or head out to Remington Park, the city's new $93 million thoroughbred racetrack. Area colleges have 106,000 students. Winters are short and mild, summers long and hot, steaks thick and well done.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: Sources: Pop. and pop. growth -- National Planning Data Corp.; unemployment -- BLS; SAT/ACT scores -- local agencies and school districts; salaries -- Census Bureau CAPTION: NO CAPTION