Top cities for the ‘young and restless
Continuing this week’s review of The Young and the Restless In A Knowledge Economy, and a listing of that report’s top cities for young talent:
Percent of Population Ages 25-34 in Metro Areas, 2000
1. Austin-San Marcos, TX MSA 18.2%
2. Atlanta, GA MSA 17.6%
3. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC MSA 17.5%
4. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX CMSA 16.8%
5. Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NCâ€â€SC MSA 16.6%
Access to recreation year-round (warmer weather) is obviously a major factor. Colder cities need to think hard about ample indoor recreation amenities.
Share of 25-34 Year-Old Population with a 4-Year Degree or Higher, 2000
1. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC MSA 45.2%
2. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA 43.2%
3. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA 41.3%
4. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV CMSA 40.9%
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI MSA 39.9%
So when brains are involved, the less that recreation is important?…
Percentage of All 25-34 Year-Old Women with a Four-Year Degree
1. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA 34.9%
2. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA 27.7%
3. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV CMSA 22.7%
4. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ 22.6%
5. Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA CMSA 19.9%
*Notice how the more auto-oriented Raleigh area goes from #1 to completely dropping off the top five. From the report: “Places that are attractive for these single, well-educated and footloose young women are likely to have an economic edge in building a talent base to be economically successful in the years ahead.”
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You are assuming that there is little or no outdoor recreation in the northern region…which is not the case. I have found that northern markets spend as much or more time outdoors (maybe due to snow shoveling!?).
Unfortunately, you left out the New Haven, CT MSA. If you look for yourself on the census website, you’ll see that it ranks better than all of the cities that you listed.