Houston named best city for young professionals

Forbes list

Vilas Bhuchar, Jun 21, 10.

Houston was named the best American city for young professionals by Forbes Magazine last week, according to the Houston Business Journal.

To create the rankings, Forbes started out by eliminating U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas with fewer than 1 million people and cities where Moody’s Economy.com predicts job growth will be negative over the next year, notes the Forbes story. Next, the business magazine used five main criteria to carve out its rankings (Houston rankings shown in parentheses):

1. Current unemployment rate (18)
2. Average salary of college graduates (7)
3. Cost of living index (27)
4. Number of the 200 largest U.S. public companies (2)
5. Presence of well-educated students from around the country (6)

Houston received its high ranking because of it high number of businesses and well-educated population, according to Forbes:

Because of its business-friendly environment and abundance of oil money, 14 of the country’s largest companies (as measured by market capitalization) are based in our No. 1 city, Houston. Only New York, N.Y., which ranks No. 4 on our list, boasts more big employers. Houston also shines thanks to high average incomes and a concentration of grads from elite colleges—and not just from local Rice University, but from across the country.

Finally, Dallas and Austin also represented Texas well, finishing No. 6 and No. 10 on the top ten list:
1. Houston, TX
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Minneapolis, MN / St. Paul, WI
4. New York, NY
5. Boston, MA
6. Dallas, TX
7. Seattle, WA
8. Denver, CO
9. Atlanta, GA
10. Austin, TX

Full story

(Photo credit: telwink)

Comments

Saly Tyler said:

Houston also has a $1+ billion city green space in which young professionals may play - Memorial Park is 1,503 acres that include a golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool and fitness center, world-class arboretum, hiking and mountainbiking trails, ballfields, soccer and croquet. This unique amenity is located inside the 610 Loop and is accessible to all citizens.

Posted on Jun 22, 10 at 4:50 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Mountainbiking and hiking trails… I dont know if you have notied but there are no “mountains” to be biking or hiking upon…

Posted on Jun 22, 10 at 5:38 pm

Sally Tyler said:

Point well-taken. Houstonians have great imagination, however, and tend to make up the mountains. Mountainbiking is the sport of the young and the flexible. We are fortunate to have so much green space inside the Loop that they can enjoy and miles of trails for them to explore.

Posted on Jun 29, 10 at 7:28 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

“make up” mountains? how so?

I agree there is a lot of greenery WITHIN the loop,

I dont think Houston is all that green, I believe that Houston has a very affordable living arrangements with good jobs which is an overriding factor bringing young professionals to the city.

Posted on Jun 30, 10 at 9:38 am

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