Trulia and LinkedIn have pooled their resources to determine the top cities for new college graduates, and the midwest and northeast regions dominated their findings, with the fair city of Columbus landing solidly in 5th place.
The study looks at both housing and job market factors, including the percentage of job openings suited for new college graduates, the percentage of affordable rental units based on median salary, and the percentage of a regional population aged 22-30 with a college degree.
Columbus scored well both in terms of new jobs available (a 90 percent ranking) and affordable housing (a 91.5 percent ranking). The city’s population of the young and college educated is 4.9 percent, which also compares well against the other cities in the Top 10 list.
Pittsburgh took home the prize as the number one city for college grads, with Indianapolis, Kansas City and Minneapolis-St. Paul following behind. Ohio neighbor Cincinnati also landed in 10th place.
The bottom of the list was dominated by cities in California, with San Francisco ranking dead last (very competitive job market and very expensive housing).
While these national rankings are rooted in some form of analytic measurement, they’re always best taken with a grain of salt. Still, when viewed in aggregate, Columbus has been receiving a lot of praise from national rankings in 2016, being named the 10th hottest real estate market, the 7th best city for young professionals, the 3rd best city for renters, the 2nd best city for commuters, and one of America’s Next Boom Towns.
To read the full report, visit www.trulia.com/blog/trends/graduation-nation-2016/.