Charlotte, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle together with New York, Dallas, Portland, Oakland and Washington D.C. have become magnets for college graduates based on the finding of a recent study from student loan marketplace Credible. These cities are among the mist when it comes to the most expensive cities across the country.
These aforementioned cities have the "most out-of-state graduates relative to in-state graduates among 20 large U.S. cities." The survey involved 4,500 Americans who have graduated at least four-and-a-half years ago. The study revealed that among these cities, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte had the highest proportion, with about 2.2 out-of state graduates for every one in-state graduate. On the other hand, a lot of college graduates prefer to explore and try their luck in San Francisco.
According to Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Seattle-based Windermere Real Estate, the results are unsurprising. "People are going to be attracted to a thriving job market, regardless of cost," he said. "The most important thing on many of their minds is to get a job."
However, with their goal to live in a thriving city comes with a challenge and that is to keep living costs low. "Higher real estate costs are likely to be in cities where job markets are very robust, and where housing costs are lower, the job markets are often not as strong," Gardner said.
Thus, it is safe to say, as stated in WUSA9, that the factors leading towards this trend are professional and personal developments. College graduates would want to live in a place where they can have find a good and promising job and at the same time contribute to their development as a person, including having the sense of independence and self-sustainability.
However, one should note that while these nine cities are the most popular among college graduates at present, there is a possibility that it won't be the same tomorrow.
Credible's CEO Stephen Dash says that "it's simple supply and demand. As more graduates move to these cities they will become more expensive, and it's likely that new cities will become more attractive."
