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Here's an article in USA Today illustrating the 2011 population of college graduates ages 30 and under in most major MSAs, plus the rate of growth since 2000...
Population of young college graduates (2011)
777,974 - New York
403,101 - Los Angeles
378,147 - Chicago
317,739 - Washington DC
226,993 - Boston
213,364 - San Francisco/Oakland
199,494 - Philadelphia
196,282 - Dallas/Fort Worth
165,320 - Atlanta
158,536 - Houston
153,799 - Minneapolis/St. Paul
134,196 - Seattle
130,749 - Miami
115,737 - Denver
110,189 - San Diego
104,149 - Baltimore
103,952 - Phoenix
95,363 - Detroit
89,763 - Pittsburgh
85,206 - St. Louis
84,259 - Austin
75,111 - San Jose
73,008 - Columbus
71,014 - Raleigh/Durham
68,367 - Portland
67,211 - Kansas City
64,118 - Charlotte
61,948 - Indianapolis
61,676 - Tampa
59,767 - Milwaukee
58,216 - Nashville
57,482 - Cleveland
57,442 - Orlando
53,433 - San Antonio
51,912 - Cincinnati
48,642 - Virginia Beach/Norfolk
44,845 - Salt Lake City
40,655 - Buffalo
40,064 - Richmond
36,670 - Rochester
36,095 - Las Vegas
35,812 - Providence
35,784 - Jacksonville
34,230 - New Orleans
33,062 - Oklahoma City
31,948 - Memphis
30,755 - Louisville
27,088 - Birmingham
25,335 - Hartford
Rate of growth (2000-2011)
+65.0% - New Orleans
+52.0% - Jacksonville
+48.5% - San Antonio
+45.3% - Milwaukee
+39.4% - Nashville
+38.3% - Austin
+38.3% - San Jose
+37.5% - Denver
+36.7% - Houston
+33.3% - Washington DC
+32.4% - Memphis
+31.8% - San Francisco/Oakland
+31.1% - Portland
+30.3% - Oklahoma City
+28.6% - Louisville
+27.0% - Chicago
+26.6% - Dallas/Fort Worth
+25.6% - New York
+25.3% - Virginia Beach/Norfolk
+24.7% - Charlotte
+24.7% - Pittsburgh
+24.6% - Philadelphia
+23.2% - Boston
+22.6% - Minneapolis/St. Paul
+21.4% - Los Angeles
+20.5% - Cleveland
+17.4% - Hartford +17.0% - METROPOLITAN AVERAGE
+16.9% - Columbus
+16.5% - Richmond
+15.6% - Cincinnati
+14.9% - Indianapolis
+14.7% - Baltimore
+14.7% - Providence
+14.7% - San Diego
+14.0% - Kansas City
+13.1% - Atlanta
+12.0% - Rochester
+12.0% - St. Louis
+11.8% - Birmingham
+11.8% - Raleigh/Durham
+8.8% - Buffalo
+8.1% - Salt Lake City
+6.9% - Orlando
+5.5% - Tampa
+4.6% - Phoenix
-0.6% - Detroit
-2.1% - Las Vegas
Notes
1. Data is not available for the Riverside/San Bernardino or Sacramento MSAs.
2. USA Today split the numeric data for the Miami and Seattle MSAs, so the aggregate rates of growth are not available for either.
3. The Raleigh and Durham MSAs were combined, so the total population and rate of growth reflects this.
Well Austin is gaining them pretty rapidly. It'll probably surpass Pittsburgh soon. And the San Jose metropolitan area has less than 2,000,000 people, so that' probably deflates its numbers a bit. More than likely, San Jose is as educated as it is because all age cohorts have above-average college attainment, from people in their 20's up through people in their 60's.
I crunched some numbers to make a list of young college grads as a percentage of total MSA population. There may be some errors, I did it pretty quickly, but it looks pretty accurate to me. Portland is surprising.
5.57051% -- Washington, DC
4.94418% -- Boston, MA
4.92145% -- San Francisco-Oakland, CA
4.72431% -- Austin, TX
4.63461% -- Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
4.45227% -- Denver, CO
4.41949% -- Raleigh-Durham, NC*
4.11689% -- New York, NY
3.99686% -- Chicago, IL
3.92841% -- Columbus, OH
3.91350% -- Salt Lake City, UT
3.87044% -- Baltimore, MD
3.83414% -- Seattle, WA
3.81415% -- Milwaukee, WI
3.80243% -- San Jose, CA
3.80234% -- Pittsburgh, PA
3.66154% -- Nashville, TN
3.58033% -- Buffalo, NY
3.55987% -- San Diego, CA
3.52731% -- Indianapolis, IN
3.38820% -- Rochester, NY
3.34422% -- Philadelphia, PA
3.27431% -- Kansas City, MO 3.27938% -- Average
3.19415% -- Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
3.14215% -- Los Angeles, CA
3.12388% -- Richmond, VA
3.05859% -- St. Louis, MO
3.02904% -- Atlanta, GA
2.98572% -- Portland, OR
2.93124% -- New Orleans, LA
2.90866% -- Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA
2.79190% -- Charlotte, NC
2.77921% -- Cleveland, OH
2.69123% -- Orlando, FL
2.63069% -- Jacksonville, FL
2.60470% -- Houston, TX
2.52744% -- Oklahoma City, OK
2.43834% -- Phoenix, AZ
2.43701% -- Cincinnati, OH
2.43439% -- San Antonio, TX
2.42748% -- Memphis, TN
2.40132% -- Birmingham, AL
2.34964% -- Miami, FL
2.22185% -- Detroit, MI
2.19577% -- Providence, RI
2.18343% -- Tampa, FL
2.13486% -- Louisville, KY
2.08969% -- Hartford, CT
1.84982% -- Las Vegas, NV
*I did what the original study apparently did and just combined the Raleigh and Durham MSAs. If they used the whole Research Triangle, this percentage would actually be 3.55282%.
It just seems so unusual that an area that is (or at least was up until fairly recently) growing so fast would have such low number of young college graduates. Especially with that demographic being arguably the most "mobile" group of movers in America today.
It just seems so unusual that an area that is (or at least was up until fairly recently) growing so fast would have such low number of young college graduates. Especially with that demographic being arguably the most "mobile" group of movers in America today.
There really aren't too many big businesses there not involved with the casinos. Not many people working in a casino need a degree.
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