Where to Move If You Want a Job, More Money, or Lots of Single People
Des Moines, Iowa Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.com
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Digging through the new Census tool on which large cities are the nation's leaders in singles, earnings, and unemployment for younger Americans.
Springfield, Massachusetts is the most single. San Jose, California is the most international (richest, too). Provo, Utah is the youngest workforce in America, and McAllen, Texas has the most minorities (and the poorest workers).
Those are some of the tidbits you can scoop up from the new edition of the Census Explorer for young adults. Overall, the report paints a darkening picture for Millennials. It finds, for example, that median earnings for full-time workers between 18 and 34 have fallen by 10 percent since 2000 and the share of unmarried adults in this cohort has grown from 41 percent in 1980 to 66 percent today.
In fact, there is so much to dig through and discuss that rather than try to sum it up in some pat story that will inevitably oversimplify things, I figured people might be more interested in learning a few discrete stats, like: What major U.S. cities finished in the top 10 in various Millennial categories, like: most young people, highest employment rate, lowest median wages, and highest poverty?
Below are 11 top-10 lists in those, and other, categories. All charts are snapshotted from an Excel document you can download from this Census page.
Highest Share of Americans Under 35
About the Provo-Orem MSA: It's not just the youngest workforce. It's the most religious metro area in America, too.
Highest Share of Young Minorities
McAllen is also the city with the highest poverty rate and highest share of Millennials living at home.
Highest Share of Young College Graduates (BA)
I want to say something interesting here, but I'm struggling to see anything in this list that's surprising.
Highest Share of Young Single People
New bumper sticker: Buffalo is for lovers.
Most Young People Who Were Born Overseas
This list is an interesting smattering of high-income cities (San Jose, LA, NYC) and low-income areas (McAllen).
Highest Median Earnings
Minneapolis is the only non-coastal city on this list. It's remarkable in other ways, too.
Lowest Median Earnings
Even with their high share of immigrants, I was surprised to see that San Antonio, Orlando, and Miami are three of the poorest cities in the country for young workers.
Highest Poverty Rate Among Young People
The level of poverty in Durham-Chapel Hill is pretty astounding compared to the metro areas around other world-class universities.
Lowest Poverty Rates Among Young People
D.C.'s suburbs power it to a number-one finish.
Cities Where Young People Are Most Likely to Have Jobs
Go Midwest, young man: Six of 10 cities here are in the Central Time Zone.
Cities Where Young People Are Least Likely to Have Jobs
Bakersfield has the unfortunate status of having the lowest employment rate and the sixth lowest median income of America's 100 largest cities for Millennials.
(Top image by Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.com)