The best area of the country for young people to land jobs in a recessionary economy is the Southwest, with Austin topping the list, according to a recent study by Portfolio.com, the online division of American City Business Journals.
The study analyzed the 67 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations above 750,000, giving the highest marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living, and substantial pools of young adults who are college-educated and employed.
According to the study, although two-thirds of the nation's major markets have fewer jobs now than five years ago, Austin added 99,200 jobs in that time, for an annual employment-growth rate of 2.8 percent, the fastest in the U.S.
Austin also has the strongest concentration of young people, with 28 percent of its population between the ages of 18 and 34, compared with a median of 23.1 percent for the study group.
At the bottom of the list was Detroit, topped by Cleveland (66th place), Dayton, Ohio (65th), Tampa-St. Petersburg (64th), and California's Riverside-San Bernardino area (63rd).
The top-10 best metros for young adults were:
o Austin, Texas
o Washington, D.C.
o Raleigh, N.C.
o Boston
o Houston
o Oklahoma City
o Dallas-Fort Worth
o Tulsa, Okla.
o Seattle
o Baton Rouge, La.
