Tampa, St. Pete Area Among Best For Young Professionals: Forbes

TAMPA, FL — As new college graduates across the country plan their next moves, Forbes has some ideas on where they should consider relocating to. The magazine recently released its list of top 25 cities for young professionals in 2017.

While the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area didn’t quite make the top of the list, it came in 19th overall. The only other Florida city to make the list was Jacksonville in 12th place.

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Tampa, Forbes noted, ranked with a recent grad median salary of $47,900, median rent share of median salary of 21 percent and a 1.55 percent annual projected job growth rate. Forbes also noted that Tampa’s population of people aged 20 to 29 was 17 percent, which earned it first-place honors in that metric.

Salt Lake City earned its first-place standings for several reasons. What makes the city so attractive is its 3.2 percent unemployment rate, a 2.54 percent projected job growth for 2017 and a median grad salary of $50,500, which is higher than many other cities. Forbes also noted that rent in the city is fairly cheap, with a two-bedroom going for around $1,100.

In compiling the list, Forbes used six metrics, of which the median salary earned by college grads with less than five years of experience was the best predictor for whether a city would make the list. Another metric, rental affordability, was the least likely to predict whether a city would make the list.

The other metrics Forbes used are local unemployment rates, data on job growth and projections, networking opportunities and social outlook. Forbes ranked each of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the United States using these metrics. Read more here on the metrics Forbes used to come up with the list.

The top 25 cities for young professionals in 2017 are:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area

2. Boise City, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area

3. San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, California Metropolitan Statistical Area

4. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area

5. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area

6. Raleigh, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area

7. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area

8. Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area

9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California Metropolitan Statistical Area

10. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area

11. Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, California Metropolitan Statistical Area

12. Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area

13. Silver Spring-Frederick, Rockville, Maryland Metropolitan Statistical Area

14. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area

15. Austin-Round Rock, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area

16. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California Metropolitan Statistical Area

17. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area

18. San Diego-Carlsbad, California Metropolitan Statistical Area

19. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area

20. Boston, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area

21. St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area

22. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area

23. Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area

24. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska-Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area

25. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota-Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area

>>>Click here to see more statistics on the cities that made the list, including median income, unemployment rate and more.

Patch's Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this story.

Photo courtesy of the City of Tampa Facebook page