The 10 US Cities Where Young Adults Are Flocking After College

City Observatory released a report Monday about how college-educated young people are flocking to cities instead of suburbs.

Well-educated young adults are 126% more likely to move to a city after college than they were in 2000, according to the report, which The New York Times linked to. But they’re not just moving to New York or Washington, DC.

Denver, Nashville, San Diego and Salt Lake City, among others, are also attracting these well-educated young adults, who are disproportionately concentrated in the country’s 51 largest cities. 

Here are the 10 US cities where the population of college-educated residents age 25 to 34 grew the most between 2000 and 2012, ranked by % change:

1. Houston — 49.8%


2. Nashville — 47.6%


3. Denver — 46.6%


4. Austin — 44.3%


5. Portland, Oregon — 37.3%


6. Washington, DC — 36.3%


7. Buffalo — 33.5%


8. Baltimore — 32%


9. Los Angeles — 30.4%


10. Pittsburgh — 28.8%

There are a number of reasons why young educated people might be drawn to all of these cities — from Austin, Texas’s music scene to the abundance of government jobs in Washington, DC.

Houston — which saw the highest increase in educated young people — would be a practical place to settle down. It’s known as America’s No. 1 job creator and houses more Fortune 500 headquarters than anywhere else in the country except New York.

SEE ALSO: The 11 Cities With The Most Opportunity Right Now

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The 10 US Cities Where Young Adults Are Flocking After College