In a ranking of 53 Washington state cities, Mountlake Terrace ranked sixth in a study examining “Cities on the Rise” by a national consumer advocacy website.

The rankings, published by NerdWallet, were determined by tabulations of population growth of working-age residents, overall employment growth and median income growth of the 53 municipalities between the years 2009 and 2012.

Mountlake Terrace was one of only two cities ranked in the top 10 that showed increases in all the categories. The city had slight increases in population growth of 16-year-olds and older (0.4 percent) and employment growth (0.1 percent), but experienced a double-figure percentage growth of workers’ median income (11.2 percent).

Six of the 10 top cities in the ranking are located in Western Washington. “Population increases in Seattle-area cities and income growth in cities outside the Seattle metro area defined the cities on the rise in Washington,” said Maggie Clark, an analyst with NerdWallet.

A seventh Western Washington city, Marysville, actually showed the biggest gain in working-age population growth (an increase of 82.2 percent), but much of that growth was due to the city annexing new communities during the 2009-2012 time frame; for that reason, NerdWallet excluded the city from its final rankings.

Richland was named the top “City on the Rise” in the study.

You can view the entire list here.