Home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, Ithaca turns out to be a pretty good place to stick around after college. Alternative weekly Utne Reader calls the 30,000-resident city “the most enlightened,” especially with a vibrant scene for young people. Downtown there’s a mall that was once a high school, a citywide arts festival, and a healthy history of social innovation. Underemployed college graduates have been able to create a massive network of social service agencies, making it a great place to find footing as a recent grad.
A city with the nickname “Mad City” has got to be a great place for young people, right? The Midwestern college capital has got a lot going for it for everyone: In 1996, Money magazine called the 200,000-strong city the best place to live in the U.S., since then, Forbes has listed the city as having the largest number of residents with Ph.D.s. For those seeking a job, Forbes also named Madison as the city with the least amount of unemployment.
There’s more to Ann Arbor than college sports, but with a football stadium that can accommodate more than 100,000, University of Michigan football is an activity recent college graduates can still enjoy. Beyond the sports scene, Ann Arbor is home to some huge research institutions, making it a good place to find a job. Google also saw the value in Ann Arbor, making the city the main headquarters of its AdWords program in 2006.
The City of Medicine has the slogan “Where Great Things Happen,” making it a likely spot for young go-getters. Beyond the famous medical Research Triangle, young people living in Durham have the choice of more than 300 restaurants and 40 annual festivals to visit in their spare time.
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Who doesn’t want to live in a city with the slogan “Keep Austin Weird”? Aside from the city’s famous cultural scene, Austin is also one of the safest large cities in the country, with fewer than five murders annually per 100,000 residents. The host of technology firms in the area have earned Austin the nickname “Silicon Hills,” and the city boasts a diverse cultural scene that provides plenty of jobs for actors and musicians, but here’s perhaps the best reason to come to Austin after college: Forbes named it the least stressful metro area in the country.
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The median age of residents in Boulder is 29, so the city has plenty to offer the young college grads who flock here. The city has film and music festivals, but also a large number of corporations that call Boulder home. There’s a payoff, too: Nearly 70 percent of the city is home to college graduates.
It’s an old cliché: A move to the D.C. metro area is necessary for young politicos. The New York Times magazine profiled some of the young idealists in April, shining a new light on the city with such a stuffy reputation. D.C. gossip blog Wonkette also runs a sister site for nightlife called “Wonkabout,” with posts that both laugh at the city’s nightlife and point out the best places to go.
Boston is best-known as a college town, but there are lots of reasons to stay after finishing school: Plenty of jobs can be had at the universities after graduation. For example, Boston University is the city’s fourth largest employer, and Northeastern University is the 14th. Other large employers include medical centers, research institutes, and investment banks.
If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, right? In 2005, the American Community Survey named New York as the city with the highest concentration of highly educated people in the country. Most of the people who moved to New York between 2000 and 2005 had college degrees, including the immigrants. Not a bad place to find some friends that share your student loan woes.
Iowa City is tied with Stamford, Connecticut, for the city with the highest number of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. But perhaps it’s the best place to go for aspiring writers: The city is home to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, considered the place where “great writers are made.”
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe all decided to make Charlottesville home, and Bert Sterling and Peter Sander ranked the city the best place to live in the U.S. in 2004, so it’s a popular destination, to say the least. Sterling and Sander said Charlottesville did so well due to its range of activities, high levels of education, and low crime rate.
College Station-Bryan, home to Texas A&M University, was named by Forbes magazine as the most well-educated city in Texas and the 11th most educated in the U.S. There are ongoing projects in the city funded by NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.
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Named the “best lil’ college town” in the country by Rolling Stone in 2005, Lawrence is a lot more progressive than some might realize. Kansas may have two Republican senators, but the city approved a domestic registry for same-sex couples and has a library and information center called “The Solidarity Centre,” two microbreweries, and a growing coffeehouse scene. Lawrence is known for its live music and art scene, hosting several music festivals and one of the best college radio stations in the country. The town is also home to the University of Kansas and has a thriving singles scene.
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Home to more than 100 parks, golf courses, and trails, a budding music scene, and lots of popcorn, Lincoln has earned a reputation as one of the Midwest’s most beloved cities. With a quarter million residents—30 percent of them between the ages of 25 and 44—low housing costs, and a healthy average income, the city is an attractive area for young professionals, particularly in the service and health-care industries.
Home to Florida’s State Capitol, two universities, and plenty of Southern hospitality, Tallahassee has a lot to offer. The Nature Conservancy calls it one of “America’s Last Great Places,” and rightly so: The area has one of the world’s deepest freshwater springs, a wildlife habitat, and year-round outdoor activities. Its population is small (150,000) but growing fast, with the most highly educated population in Florida.
Situated comfortably between St. Louis and Kansas City, Columbia has a very diversified economy and is known for having a high-quality business atmosphere. Its economy is based mainly on the education, medical, technology, and insurance industries, and Columbia is often ranked high on lists of the country’s most livable cities.
Perched on the banks of the Delaware River, the capital of New Jersey is small, with only 85,000 residents, but makes up for up it in diversity. It’s also great for shoppers, with its Urban Enterprise Zone, where sales tax is reduced to 3.5 percent. With several colleges, a number of charter schools, a community school for the arts, and two newspapers, Trenton has a stimulating atmosphere.
Sometimes called the New York of the West Coast, the Bay Area is one of the most exciting places in America to live. Mild weather, beautiful mountains, and the ocean give residents lots of opportunities to play outdoors, while a vivid and established arts scene lend the area a very cosmopolitan feel. Home to some of the best restaurants in the country, a number of colleges, sports teams, and a vibrant political environment, San Francisco is never boring. And of course, proximity to Silicon Valley and international business centers means lots of career opportunities.
This town of 38,000 is dominated by Penn State University, which keeps the area vibrant and, some say, recession-proof. It’s ranked as one of the safest cities in the country and has been named the top “single” city. Despite its small size, the town has a highly rated brewpub and an array of interesting restaurants and bars.
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Los Angeles’ quieter cousin, San Diego has the same incredible beaches and surfing, but a much smaller population. You still get the hard-to-beat, year-round sunshine, colleges, universities, and ethnic diversity, but the city has the quiet feel of a small town. Its proximity to Mexico makes it a great jumping-off place for adventure, and the atmosphere makes it a great place to come home to.
Home to Hollywood, the world’s movie factory, Los Angeles has a lot more to offer than just celluloid and silicone. With about 14 million residents in the greater metropolitan area, it’s one of the larges cities in the country. Yet it has incredible outdoor recreation, right in the city. Residents brag that they can ski and surf in the same day, and Griffith Park is the largest metropolitan park in the U.S. It offers an incredibly diverse population, a growing theater scene, incredible restaurants, and of course, the chance to become a big star.
A picturesque little Spanish town squeezed between steep mountains and the Pacific Ocean, with a Mediterranean climate, Santa Barbara is sometimes called the “American Riviera.” It has a healthy economy, a number of colleges, and a respectable arts scene, with plenty of stars making their homes there. It is almost halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a good portion of the population is young and single.
Capital of the Empire State, home to several colleges, and rich with history, Albany is halfway between Buffalo and Boston, New York, and Montreal. It has been investing in its neighborhoods and its cultural life in recent years. Because of its location, it gets a lot of touring acts in addition to its developing local arts scene.
The famous Silicon Valley is the third largest city in the U.S. and is the brain center of the technological industry. Located inland from San Francisco, it has less rain, getting more than 300 days a year of sunshine. It has more than 400,000 jobs within its city limits and the highest median income in the country.
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Although it’s known as the rainy city, Seattle only gets about 36 inches of rain a year—less than New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and even Atlanta. The city hosts some of the country’s most enthusiastic outdoor-lovers, who consider the hilly metropolis a recreational heaven. If nature doesn’t do it for you, Seattle also has a vibrant local arts scene, with dozens of theater companies, galleries, museums, and live music venues. And don’t forget the coffee! Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks make their home in Seattle, so there are lots of opportunities for smart graduates—without the high rents of New York or San Francisco.
