Best Places for New College Grads, 2012 (2365 hits)
Richard Florida 7:45 AM ET
Though the economy is showing signs of life, the job market for new college graduates is still extremely tough. A daunting figure – three million new grads competing for one million jobs – has been widely reported, as has the fact that more than half of recent grads are unemployed or under-employed. It's also been widely and incorrectly reported that 85 percent of grads are moving back in with mom and dad. The correct figure is actually 40 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. That's nothing new, really. The period immediately after college has always been one of flux.
Before all you grads get too down, remember that the economic prospects look considerably better over the long run. Americans with a college degree face a substantially smaller risk of being and staying unemployed than those without diplomas. A college degree returns 15.2 percent a year, more than double the return to stock market investments since the 1950s, and five times more than the return to bonds, gold, or government bonds, according to a Brookings Institution study. Straight out of college, the average 22-year-old college grad can expect about 70 percent more in wages and salary than a peer with just a high-school degree. And the job market for graduates seems to be improving, albeit slowly, according to recent accounts.
A good way to improve your economic prospects is to pick the right place to live. Choosing the right location is one of the most important, if not the single most important, decisions you will ever make. It will influence your job and career opportunities, not to mention your ability to make friends, develop personal and professional networks, and find a potential life partner.
To help you with your choice, my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Charlotta Mellander and I ranked U.S. metropolitan areas on a variety of key criteria that are important to new grads. First and foremost are economic factors like the unemployment rate, salary levels, the fraction of high-paying/high-quality job markets, and the amount of money people have left over after paying for housing. Many recent grads can’t afford to buy a house or car, so we included the percentage of rental housing in a metro and the fraction of commuters who use public transit. To capture places that are open to smart 20-somethings, where you can not only build friendships and look for mates but create the personal and professional networks that are so crucial to both career and happiness, we added the share of adults who are college graduates along with the percentage of the population that has never been married. The eight variables we based our rankings on are:
Unemployment rate, via the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Share of jobs in professional, technical, and creative occupations (BLS) Percent of adults with a BA and above, via the American Community Survey (ACS) Average salaries and wages for professional, technical, and creative occupations (BLS) Rental share of housing (ACS) Money left over after paying for housing (ACS) Share of adults that have never been married (ACS) Share of commuters who use public transit (ACS)
