Forbes magazine has been tracking the number of 20 to 35-year-old professionals
in the 40 biggest metro areas in the United States to find out which ones are
attracting fresh talent.
Minneapolis came in at number five, bolstered by
its highest concentration of top companies status, above average paying jobs,
and its low cost of living.
San Francisco displaced New York for the top
spot this year. Adjusted for its population, the Bay Area has the highest share
of young professionals who graduated from the 1998 class at prestigious schools
such as Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, and Princeton. Forbes’
methodology tracks where graduates settle 10 years after graduation as a way to
find out where the best jobs are for young professionals. Those rankings are
combined with Forbes' research on 400 of the best big companies and 200
of the best small companies, median salary data from the Census Bureau, and is
adjusted for population (so, for example, cities the size of Minneapolis can
compete with New York).
The top-five cities for young professionals
are:
1. San Francisco
2. Boston
3. Houston
4. New York
5.
Minneapolis
July 2008 | by Katie Harholdt

