When you're fresh out of college, your first goal is often to find potentially great entry level careers. While knowing what type of career you'd like to have is first and foremost, knowing where to look for jobs is almost equally as important.

Although large cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago may seem the most appealing when it comes to finding your first job, those cities aren't always necessarily poised for long-term success. In fact, there are several smaller cities that saw tremendous growth during the first half of this decade.

Fortune recently released its list of the metro areas that had the fastest local gross domestic product growth from 2001 to 2006. Lake Charles, La., came in first with a GDP growth of 119 percent. The city, which has a population of 192,856, had a GDP of $13.8 million.

Lake Charles also has been faring relatively well as of late. Even though the city saw its unemployment rate increase from 7.3 percent to 7.6 percent during August, that rate was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.7 percent. And despite the slight increase in unemployment and a .6 percent decrease in total non-farm jobs from last year, Lake Charles managed to add 300 jobs from July to August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Second on the list is Casper, Wyo., with a GDP growth of 85 percent. The city, which has a population of 73,129, had a GDP of $5.7 million. This city also has fared relatively well as of late despite the current economic recession.

Even though Casper saw its unemployment rate increase from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent during August, that number was still lower than the national unemployment rate during the same month. However, the city saw a 3.2 percent decrease in non-farm employment from last year and lost 200 jobs from July to August.

Third on Fortune's list is Palm Coast, Fla., with a GDP growth of 84 percent. The 91,247-person city had a GDP of $1.4 million. Unfortunately, the recession seems to have taken its toll on this city.

Even though Palm Coast saw its unemployment rate decrease from 16.2 percent to 15.7 percent during August, that number was significantly higher than the national unemployment rate at the time. And while the city added 100 jobs from July to August, it saw a 7.7 percent decrease in non-farm employment when compared to last year.

The 25 cities that saw the biggest GDP growth from 2001 to 2006 include:

1. Lake Charles, La.
2. Casper, Wyo.
3. Palm Coast, Fla.
4. St. George, Utah
5. Port St. Lucie, Fla.
6. Farmington, N.M.
7. Midland, Texas
8. Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
9. Baton Rouge, La.
10. Las Vegas, Nev.
11. Prescott, Ariz.
12. Bakersfield, Calif.
13. Longview, Texas
14. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
15. Panama City, Fla.
16. Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
17. Ocala, Fla.
18. Victoria, Texas
19. Fairbanks, Alaska
20. Hanford, Calif.
21. Bend, Ore.
22. Clarksville, Tenn.
23. Hinesville, Ga.
24. Houma, La.
25. Odessa, Texas