According to an article published yesterday in USA Today, the population of young and educated people are on the rise in urban centers around the country: “Urban centers draw more young, educated adults“. According to 2010 Census data, the number of educated 20- and 30-somethings grew twice as fast in the core of most US cities than it did throughout the rest of their metropolitan regions.
Specifically, Columbus gained over 4,000 new young professionals within a 3-mile radius of Broad and High between 2000 and 2010. That’s an increase in that demographic of 45%.
To give you an idea of what a 3-mile radius looks like, Doug Motz, President of the Columbus Historical Society provided the following photo of Columbus, circa-1912, when the city wasn’t much larger than a 3-mile radius (click to enlarge):
This data mirrors other recent reports that say that Columbus is making headway on “attracting and retaining” a young and educated workforce:
- Between 2005 and 2009, the Columbus region change from a migration loss (-0.23) to a migration gain (+0.16) when looking at the young and educated demographic. [Read More]
- New Geography lists Columbus as the 9th best city in the US in terms of recent gains of college educated people. [Read More]
If this trend is expected to continue over the course of the next decade, what additional considerations need to be taken into account to encourage population growth in this demographic sector?