Forbes: Atlanta 9th best for young professionals (Dallas, Washington: employment, neighborhoods)

[BringBackCobain]

Atlanta 9th best for young professionals - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The top ten:
1. Houston
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Minneapolis- St. Paul
4. New York
5. Boston
6. Dallas
7. Seattle
8. Denver
9. Atlanta
10. Austin

I was surprised that rust belt Minneapolis-St. Paul made the list. The rest of the cities are expected. These cities seem to be most of Atlanta's main competitors, in general.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Atlanta 9th best for young professionals - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The top ten:
1. Houston
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Minneapolis- St. Paul
4. New York
5. Boston
6. Dallas
7. Seattle
8. Denver
9. Atlanta
10. Austin

I was surprised that rust belt Minneapolis-St. Paul made the list. The rest of the cities are expected. These cities seem to be most of Atlanta's main competitors, in general.

The Twin Cities were never a part of the Rust Belt. In fact, they've benefited from the downfall of the Rust Belt cities as several rankings now show.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

I was surprised that rust belt Minneapolis-St. Paul made the list. The rest of the cities are expected. These cities seem to be most of Atlanta's main competitors, in general.

The Twin Cities are not a rust belt town ... they're actually quite diverse economically, with a fair number of high tech, financial, retail, and food companies amongst others, and the following Fortune 500 companies are headquartered there:

Company #Ranking

UnitedHealth Group #21
Target #30
Best Buy #45
Supervalu #47
CHS #91
3M #106
U.S. Bancorp #121
General Mills #155
Medtronic #160
Land O'Lakes #226
Mosaic #231
Xcel Energy #244
Ameriprise Financial #288
C.H. Robinson Worldwide #301
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans #342
Ecolab #365
Nash-Finch #400
St. Jude Medical #445
Alliant Techsystems #454
PepsiAmericas #464

Sorry about the formatting. Other companies with a large presence are Delta (remember that Northwest Airlines was based in the Twin Cities), Unisys (operating systems group in Roseville, Airline Center in Eagan, etc.), Blue Cross Blue Shield, Honeywell, etc. Oh, forgot Cargill, Carlson Companies, and Dairy Queen.

Other companies in the Twin Cities are listed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...polis-St._Paul

I might add (as a former Twin Cities resident) that the Twin Cities was a technology hotbed of sorts back in the 1960's. Control Data, Honeywell, Cray, UNIVAC, and several other computing companies from that era either started there or had a very large relative presence there, and that trend toward high tech exists to this day to some extent.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Atlanta 9th best for young professionals - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The top ten:
1. Houston
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Minneapolis- St. Paul
4. New York
5. Boston
6. Dallas
7. Seattle
8. Denver
9. Atlanta
10. Austin

I was surprised that rust belt Minneapolis-St. Paul made the list. The rest of the cities are expected. These cities seem to be most of Atlanta's main competitors, in general.

The Twin Cities are not a part of the Rust Belt.

[WriterDawg85]

I've seen a couple snarky comments about Minneapolis on this forum and I can't figure out why - I've never been there myself but I know several people my age (mid-20s) that have lived there and absolutely loved it. Their economy seems to be good and there's relatively little crime, even in urban areas.

Atlanta's inclusion on this list doesn't surprise me, we usually do well in these kinds of metrics. The number of people with college degrees here is a good bit higher than the national average, and if I'm not mistaken, the average age in the city is fairly young - there are plenty of like-minded people here for recent college grads and the job situation seems to be a bit less bleak for college graduates here than it is in some places. Of the recent college grads I know (and that's quite a few, I just graduated in 2008), few of them have had significant problems finding professional employment in Atlanta.

[johnatl]

In defense of the Twin Cities, I have only been once - but was pretty much wowed.

It's a very nice metro, and the Westside neighborhoods in MPS around the lakes are some of the most beautiful and vibrant urban neighborhoods I have ever seen in the U.S.

[kayrob]

Originally Posted by WriterDawg85

I've seen a couple snarky comments about Minneapolis on this forum and I can't figure out why - I've never been there myself but I know several people my age (mid-20s) that have lived there and absolutely loved it. Their economy seems to be good and there's relatively little crime, even in urban areas.

Atlanta's inclusion on this list doesn't surprise me, we usually do well in these kinds of metrics. The number of people with college degrees here is a good bit higher than the national average, and if I'm not mistaken, the average age in the city is fairly young - there are plenty of like-minded people here for recent college grads and the job situation seems to be a bit less bleak for college graduates here than it is in some places. Of the recent college grads I know (and that's quite a few, I just graduated in 2008), few of them have had significant problems finding professional employment in Atlanta.

Well the snarky comments are probably from one guy. He seems to get offended when anyone dares to say there are other nice cities out there along with Atlanta. No doubt he's not too happy seeing some of the cities listed 1-8 on this list.