[caption id=”attachment_86315″ align=”aligncenter” width=”2985″] AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
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A new nationwide study finds that college graduates are now flocking to the largest metropolitan areas to find jobs, and are attracted to different cities than they were 15-25 years ago.
According to the study, published in the journal Papers in Regional Science, college students are choosing to live in the biggest cities with the biggest labor markets and the best chances of landing a job. Professors studying the migration patterns of young graduates say the rush to big cities has coincided with slowing economic growth.
“In the 90s, when the economy was booming, college grads just moved to places that were fast-growing, figuring they could find a job,” said Michael Betz, co-author of the study and a professor of human sciences at Ohio State University.
However, after two recessions significantly weakened the national economy, college graduates are no longer deciding to move based on the type of industry or jobs available.
Boulder, Colorado and Ann Arbor, Michigan are two cities that had fast-growing, highly-educated industries in the 1990s and had the highest college graduate growth at that time, according to Betz’s research. Post-2000, these medium-sized cities saw a much slower rate of graduate growth.
Big cities often come with higher rent checks, but despite the fact that recent college graduates can’t afford to live in the top rental markets, “any location is a three way tradeoff between income and rent and amenities,” Betz told Red Alert Politics. “It seems most college graduates are opting to go to places where there is a higher probability of finding a good job, even if it means a greater likelihood of living with a roommate,” he said.
This trend may impact city planning and development as well, as city leaders attempt to attract young college-educated workers to live in their areas.
“Local policymakers often believe they can lure more college grads by becoming a hub of high-tech industry or creating a cool arts district,” Betz said. “These kinds of things may not hurt, but they’re not what college grads are mainly looking for in a place to live,” he said.
Although cities can’t change their size or population, Betz says the key to attracting college graduates is creating a stable and, if possible, growing labor market with plenty of potential job opportunities to offer.
