Yet Miami is not a city where the young can really thrive.
Real estate site Trulia and career networking site LinkedIn recently hooked up, shared data, and decided to identify the American cities most friendly to recent grads. Of the 40 metro areas analyzed, Miami came in dead last.
To come up with the rankings, the sites used a "Graduate Opportunity Index." The index was a combination of the following three criteria:
(1) the LinkedIn New Grad Job Score, which rates metros based on the share of job openings suitable for recent college grads, (2) Trulia’s New Grad Affordability Score, which is the share of rental units considered as affordable to a new grad based on their median salary, and (3) the share of total population that is between the ages of 22 and 30 with a college degree.Basically, it comes down to: Can a recent grad find a job here? Can they find a decent affordable apartment to rent? And, even if they can, can they find enough fellow young professionals in the same situation to hang out with, network with, and, frankly, date?
It seems that's a pretty difficult trifecta to pull off in Miami for educated millennials.
Miami had a "Graduate Opportunity Index" of 0.19 out of a possible 1.0. It was by far the lowest. Los Angeles, the second-to-last on the list, had an index of 0.28.
Our area had a job score of 0.69, an affordability index of 43.4, and only 3.2 percent of the population is made up of young graduates.
Miami also stood out because it was the only city in the bottom ten located on the East Coast. (Eight of the other nine are in California.)
The best places for young grads, in case you're wondering, are Pittsburgh; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Columbus, Ohio. Though, we're pretty sure there aren't regular yacht parties or clubs open til 5 a.m. in any of those areas.
The data ranking is just the latest indication that Miami isn't particularly yuppie-friendly.
In another recent analysis, Miami lead the nation in the percentage of millennials who live with their mom. Data from last year indicated Miami was the most unaffordable city in America for a millennial to rent.
It's no wonder that, according to Census data, young people continue to flee the area.
