Nashville ranks among the top 10 “Best Cities for New College Grads.”
SmartAsset, a financial technology company based in New York, evaluated 106 major U.S. cities on 10 metrics that fell into three categories — jobs, affordability and fun, or lifestyle. Those were combined into a final ranking index.
Nashville ranked No. 9 on the list. It scored highest in the fun category (99.78), followed by jobs (69.30), and scored 43.48 for affordability. Scores were based on 0 to 100. Cincinnati, Ohio, grabbed the No. 1 spot and scored 99.55 in the fun category.
According to the report, “Nashville ranks second for fun score, with dining and entertainment making up 13.45% of all establishments (the sixth-biggest percentage in our study). This city also has the 25th-largest population of people between the ages of 20 and 29 (18.08%).”
The top five cities on the list were Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. Those reflected a general predominance of cities in the Midwest and other places away from the coasts. Many of those cities are already known for affordability, but also are college towns that excel for fun, the study said. The study’s authors also noted the edge in the job market that degree holders have. Across the 106 cities studied, the median earnings for college grads is $54,751, according to U.S. Census data, which is nearly 31% more than the 2019 median earnings for the entire population 25 years and older, which was $41,801.
