What is the best city in America to find a job and settle in?

One of the questions I feel young college graduates need to know the answer to is “What is the best city in America to find a job and settle in.”

“USA Today” wrote an article about the top ten cities in American luring young professional people into their community. Some of the communities named include Pittsburgh, Richmond, Memphis, Tampa, Indianapolis, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Tallahassee, and Fresno. Other cities named in a separate article included San Antonio and Austin, Texas. These cities are launching web sites, organizing summits, staging arts and music festivals and investing in glitzy promotions specifically to lure young professionals. Metropolitan centers such as San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Washington and Boston have never had difficulty attracting young professionals until now. There is little appeal in the labor force in large cities. Big companies are looking into smaller cities to mobilize such as Intel Corporation has done with Rio Rancho, New Mexico. According to a census, two-thirds of the 50 largest metropolitan areas had fewer young adults in 2000 than in 1990.

If you are seeking a professional position in a city such as becoming a school teacher, a good location may be dependent upon affordable housing. Such cities as Rio Rancho, New Mexico and Fresno, California would be excellent choices. A new medium priced home in Rio Rancho is $208,000. In Fresno, California, the medium priced home is $335,000. The starting salary for a school teacher in Rio Rancho, New Mexico is $35,000 annually. In comparison, the starting salary for a school teacher in Fresno, California is $42,000.

A college graduate may run the risk of selecting a job without properly researching the housing in the area. One of my children has a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering. He works for an excellent company in Thousand Oaks, California and is compensated well for his profession. My son will never be able to purchase a home in Thousand Oaks. The medium priced home averages 1.1 million dollars. As much as I love my son, I will never be able to lend him the sizeable down payment required to purchase a home near his job. Many of his co-workers commute one and a half hours to their job, just so they can own a home.

There are other factors to consider such as the cost of living. A perfect example is San Jose, California and Austin, Texas. A salary of $50,000 in Austin, Texas has the same buying power that a salary of $76,263 has in San Jose, California. In other words, the cost of living in San Jose, California is 52.5% higher than that of Austin, Texas.

I am well aware that a good percentage of the students attending UNM are not native Albuquerquians and plan to return to their hometown after graduation. In the event that a graduate is considering accepting a job in a part of the country they are not familiar with, researching housing and the cost of living can be valuable information.

With all the facts set aside, my husband and I pick Honolulu, Hawaii.