Springfield Ranks as a Top City for Young Professionals
Jun 14, 2009
One of the nation's leading young professional consulting firms, Next Generation Consulting, has released its latest rankings of America's "Next Cities". The rankings place Springfield at 17th on the small cities list (cities with populations between 100,000 and 200,000). According to the US Census Bureau, there are 157 cities in the country with population in this size range.
Next Generation Consulting has been studying young professionals for more than 10 years and bases their research on 45 data points. This study focused on the residential and relocation patterns of 20-40 year olds and looked at seven indexes--Earning, Learning, Vitality, Around Town, After Hours, Cost of Lifestyle, and Social Capital.
“Simply being the cheapest place to live, or the city with the most jobs is not a long-term workforce strategy,” says NGCs founder, Rebecca Ryan. Although jobs are important, Ryan says, “The next generation is very savvy about choosing where they’ll live. They look carefully at quality of life factors like how much time they’re going to spend in traffic commuting, if they can live near a park or hike-and-bike trail, and whether a city’s downtown stays awake after five.”
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"Next Cities" with Population of |
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1 |
Fort Collins, CO |
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2 |
Charleston, SC |
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3 |
Eugene, OR |
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4 |
Cedar Rapids, IA |
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5 |
Springfield, IL |
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6 |
Cary, NC |
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7 |
Ann Arbor, MI |
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8 |
Sioux Falls, SD |
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9 |
Pueblo, CO |
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10 |
Gainesville, FL |
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11 |
Stamford, CT |
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12 |
Des Moines, IA |
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13 |
Spokane, WA |
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14 |
Syracuse, NY |
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15 |
Huntsville, AL |
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16 |
Peoria, IL |
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17 |
Springfield, MO |
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18 |
Salt Lake City, UT |
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19 |
Richmond, VA |
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20 |
Hampton, VA |