Arlington Ranks No. 1 In U.S. For Recent College Graduates Starting Career: Study

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington ranked as the top mid-sized city in the U.S. for a young adult seeking to start a career after college, according to a new study.

Researchers at CoworkingCafe looked at job opportunities, income levels, cost of living, lifestyle amenities and other metrics in order to find the best U.S. cities for recent graduates to start their careers. Although it is a county, Arlington is often categorized as a city by researchers.

Arlington led the pack among mid-sized cities "by a long shot," according to CoworkingCafe, an online platform used for finding and booking coworking spaces.

“Not only is there a strong supply of talent, but the local job market also has plenty of capacity to employ the young workforce right away,” CoworkingCafe said in the report, released May 2.

Arlington came in No. 1 in the ranking, despite the county's high cost of housing. The average monthly rent for an 850-square-foot apartment in Arlington is $2,427, or about $29,000 per year, according to RentCafe, a sister company of CoworkingCafe.

Researchers at CoworkingCafe looked favorably at the business environment in Arlington.

“The city’s booming business ecosystem is anchored by all of the most important aerospace and defense contractors, as well as several important corporate headquarters, like Nestlé, Accenture and Bloomberg Industry Group,” the report says. “Additionally, the city is also home to Amazon’s HQ2 — the ecommerce giant’s $5 billion second home, which is set to open its first phase later this year.”

The report noted that the cost of living in Arlington is 11.3 percent above the national average, while Sunnyvale, California, which ranked second in the report, has a cost of living that is 11.6 percent above the national average.

Neighboring Alexandria came in as the 5th best mid-sized city for a recent college graduate seeking to start a career.

Other mid-sized cities ranked in the top five of the CoworkingCafe report were Durham, North Carolina, in third place and Overland Park, Kansas, in fourth place.

In Arlington, 78 percent of its residents hold at least a bachelor’s degree from college, the highest percentage in the nation. A higher percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree can mean more competition for jobs, but it is also indicative of more job opportunities “as companies gravitate towards locations with a qualified talent pool,” CoworkingCafe said.

The median income for an Arlington resident with a bachelor’s degree who is 25 or older is nearly $88,000, compared to a median income of $103,000 for residents with a bachelor’s degree in Sunnyvale, California.

CoworkingCafe combined the scores into three main groups by area of interest: employment, financial and lifestyle. To reflect a fair comparison, CoworkingCafe segmented the cities into three population brackets: small, midsized and large.

Santa Clara, California, ranked as the No. 1 small city for a recent graduate to start their career, according to the report. In its analysis of large cities, Washington, D.C., ranked as the fourth-best city for a recent graduate to start their career. Atlanta ranked as the No. 1 large city for a recent graduate.

RELATED: Arlington Ranks No. 1 In Virginia For Ease In Finding New Apartment