Best Cities For Young Professionals

Forbes Ranks Best Cities For Young Professionals

July 11, 2008

The term "young professional" never really sat right with me, and it still doesn't, but I'm not sure what should be used in its place. Any ideas? Forbes has released its list of the best cities for young professionals (hey, they said it, not me), which isn't to be mistaken with the best cities for new grads.

Their rankings of the 40 biggest cities in the US adjusts each category for population, and Forbes clarifies the purpose of the list is "to gauge which cities are attracting the next generation of top business talent." Drumroll . . . discover the top ten when you read more.

San Francisco, California
Boston, Massachusetts
Houston, Texas
New York, New York
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Washington, D.C.
Chicago, Illinois
Charlotte, North Carolina
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Austin, Texas

Source

28 Comments

pixelhaze 4 years 44 weeks

I wouldn't have thought Austin would be so far lower than Houston, but all the posters answered my question. I guess it's good for grads but not YP's? And there might be more jobs in Houston, and lots of people . . . but I feel like they all go home after work. I've been here 9 months and I've been so bored! Everywhere I look it's stay at home moms and their kids. Where the heck are the people in their 20s (and not in college)?? Apparently they exist. . .

pixelhaze 4 years 44 weeks

I wouldn't have thought Austin would be so far lower than Houston, but all the posters answered my question. I guess it's good for grads but not YP's?And there might be more jobs in Houston, and lots of people . . . but I feel like they all go home after work. I've been here 9 months and I've been so bored! Everywhere I look it's stay at home moms and their kids. Where the heck are the people in their 20s (and not in college)?? Apparently they exist. . .

tee0206 4 years 44 weeks

Yay, Austin. It really is hard to find a job here, though. I did temp work for months before I found something. I could be making so much more money doing my job in a different city, but I just can't part with Leslie, S. Congress, the bats, Zilker Park, Magnolia Cafe, etc.

CestlavieSJP 4 years 44 weeks

San Fran & Boston, two of my favorite cities, take the top spots. Nice!

Skelly1029 4 years 45 weeks

awww, no Denver :(

Skelly1029 4 years 45 weeks

awww, no Denver :(

Marci 4 years 45 weeks

Austin's a great city but the job market is tough. But I was interested to see my 4 of my favorite cities are on this list: New York (where I live again), San Francisco, Chicago and Austin. Can't go wrong with any of them, in my book. And it's true that Manhattan is great for jobs but bad for real estate. Finding an apartment you can afford is really hard. We did it, but that's with 2 incomes and we still have to watch our expenses closely.

Marci 4 years 45 weeks

Austin's a great city but the job market is tough. But I was interested to see my 4 of my favorite cities are on this list: New York (where I live again), San Francisco, Chicago and Austin. Can't go wrong with any of them, in my book.And it's true that Manhattan is great for jobs but bad for real estate. Finding an apartment you can afford is really hard. We did it, but that's with 2 incomes and we still have to watch our expenses closely.

carhornsinapril 4 years 45 weeks

holler, new york. the only thing that's not great for young professionals is the rent... i don't know anyone who's financially independent and can afford to live in manhattan. seriously.

counterdeuce 4 years 45 weeks

I recently went on a trip to Milwaukee and to be honest it ws a very impressive city. I loved it.

graduatedsqueaks 4 years 45 weeks

woo, Boston came in second!

sfbutterfly24 4 years 45 weeks

YEAh for San Francisco!!!

sfbutterfly24 4 years 45 weeks

YEAh for San Francisco!!!

fleurfairy 4 years 45 weeks

I graduated from UT. Let's just say Austin is great, but the job market is not. It is very hard to get a job there.

Happsmjc 4 years 45 weeks

im not surprised about chicago--im 24 and about 1/2 of my college and hs friends live there---i wish i could!!

Linda McP 4 years 45 weeks

San Francisco and Chicago in the top 10! Two of my very favorite places even though I'm no longer a "young professional."

amycullen2 4 years 45 weeks

Hooray Minneapolis!! :D

amycullen2 4 years 45 weeks

Hooray Minneapolis!! :D

SDTransplant 4 years 45 weeks

I live in Boston right now and even though it's not my hometown on the West Coast, there are certainly a lot of opportunities and things to do here. And I love having widespread public transportation! It's also great that there are a bunch of schools and universities here (I'm employed by one of them) and I'm sure that helps our employment market here significantly.

fredonica 4 years 45 weeks

Yay, Minneapolis is #5! I love Minnesota since the cost of living is so much lower than like, everywhere else. There's a decent job market here, and we have so many big companies, so I'm not surprised my city made the list.

longhornlass04 4 years 45 weeks

Austin's job market is highly competitive. They have one of the biggest universities in the nation, great music, great environment, interesting/artistic people...so no UT graduate ever wants to leave and everyone else wants to move there. The only thing is, you could get a higher salary working just about anywhere else.

MelissaIsTheBest 4 years 45 weeks

Ug, I'm by DC. People here are pansys and are strickly business. I think some of them had to sell their souls in order to get the degrees they got because they've got nothing kind left to them :(

MelissaIsTheBest 4 years 45 weeks

Ug, I'm by DC. People here are pansys and are strickly business. I think some of them had to sell their souls in order to get the degrees they got because they've got nothing kind left to them :(

cmd0610 4 years 45 weeks

Yay Houston! We have 3.8% unemployement- okay Austin has much much more pleasant outdoors atmosphere but we live rich here in Houston for cheap and during theses time with the economy I appreciate so much what we have going here.

bellaressa 4 years 45 weeks

LMAO @ Martini Rossi. Wow, Chicago is at 7- wait till next year - I love this city but next year we will be kicked off especially with this 10% tax increase.

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28 Comments

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