
Our Town (the Thorton Wilder version) is alive and well, particularly for recent college graduates, according to SmartAsset's 2018 study of where the newly minted BAs and BSs can find reasonably priced housing.
In total we looked at 10 metrics across three categories: jobs, fun and affordability. To measure a city’s job score, we looked at overall unemployment rates, unemployment rates for those with a bachelor’s degree, average earnings for college graduates and the number of job listings on Indeed. For affordability, we looked at cost of living and monthly median rent costs. To measure fun, we looked at the concentration of entertainment and dining establishments, population aged between 20 and 29, the average rating for bars in the area and the average rating for restaurants in the area. Check out our data and methodology to see where we got our data and how we put it together.
This is the 2018 version of this study. Check out the 2017 version here.
Key Findings
Midwest is best – Six of our 10 best places for college grads are in the Midwest. These cities tend to combine low costs of living with access to opportunity, which is why they rank so high.
Toss up between the coasts – Cities on both the East Coast and West Coast suffer from high costs of living. But both coasts have representatives in our top 25. So if you are a new college graduate looking for a great city on the West Coast, look to San Francisco or Seattle. If you are looking on the East Coast, Boston may be your best option.
