Kansas City, MO was rated by Portfolio as the26th best city in the nation for young adults.
Austin, TX was ranked #1.
Other comparable Midwest cities include Oklahoma City (#6), Tulsa (#8), Denver (#15), Omaha (#20), Columbus, OH (#22), Nashville (#30), St. Louis (#37), Indianapolis (#39), Cincinnati (#45), Milwaukee (#58).
Detroit is last at #67.
Criteria was the Annual Rate of Population Growth, Annual Rate of Employment growth, Share of the total poplulation that is 18-34, Jobless rate for those 18-34, HHs under the age of 45 with Household Incomes of $100k+ and the % of 18-34 year olds with a bachelor's degree or higher.
Kansas City's strengths were a low jobless rates for 18-34 year olds (21st) and a high percentage of college graduates for 18-34 year olds (18th).
Having a young, well-educated work force should be a good selling point for a city that is trying to attract major corporations to the city. It also means that if the city can keep young-professionals in town, there is some significant growth opportunity for the city.
One of the bigger stumbling blocks is the city's school system...because as these young professionals start having families, they will begin to look for good schools for their children to go to.
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