My Goals: BOS vs CHI vs DC vs NY vs PHI (best, state)

[ThinkingGeneral]

So for a long-term unemployed four-year university graduate with only limited student work experience, which of these metro areas would be the best place to relocate to achieve my goals? Which area would I have the highest chance of success?

I am not naive - I know it is going to be hard no matter where I go, and I will be doing a large amount of preparation first. My current isolated location has almost no opportunities at all, and I have exhausted all other options. I will only have very limited resources (some savings) in addition to whatever job I can get, if/when I can get it.

I have an excellent GPA and various other strong academic accomplishments, but I am from a state university without any national recognition. My degree is in business - my concentration is not as valuable as a major like accounting, but it is also not one of the completely "fluff" business majors either. I cannot drive (though I have ID), but I would strongly prefer walking and public transit anyway.

Long-Term (starting) Financial Goals:
1. Entry-level professional job
2. No roommates - healthy & safe efficiency apartment (luxury and size irrelevant)
3. Healthy & safe building and neighborhood that most match the below "additional considerations"

Data that may help get the job/economic side of the topic started (though I am looking for subjective opinions/discussion as well):


City/Neighborhood Goals (concerning what I personally like):

1. The more urban, the better. I do not like either suburban or rural environments. I enjoy green vegetation/trees in an urban environment, but not to the extent it begins to sacrifice the urban lifestyle.

2. The more walkability and public transit, the better.

3. When it comes to weather, I prefer cold over hot.

4. The more "non-religious" friendly, the better. Although I am open-minded about what may or may not exist, I choose not to follow organized religion.

5. The more progressive-friendly and independent-friendly, the better.

6. The more non-drunk (and non-smoking and non-drugs) fun/entertainment/socializing, the better. I do not have a problem at all with people drinking, but if the event/activity/group/place's "fun" is the drinking and/or most people are trying to get drunk, I am not interested. I enjoy interesting conversation, dancing, games, sports (participating, not watching), volunteer work, etc... but where most people are drinking in moderation or not at all.

7. The more genuine (not the pretend / show-off kind) intellectual interests and national/world awareness & concern among the population, and the less self-centeredness, the better.

8. The more young (20s-30s), healthy-lifestyle (not overweight, not into smoking or drugs, etc...), single white and Latino women interested in casual dating and fun, the better. I'm not looking for relationships now or in the foreseeable future, and for whatever reason, I just never have been physically attracted to most black and Asian women. No offense intended to any who are reading this, it is just something to do with what physical female features attract me personally.

I realize that any large city will have variety and have many of both the things I am seeking and the things I dislike. However, I am looking for the place that will most match my preferences, where I can find the things I like more so than elsewhere, where my minority combination of preferences is at its largest.

Also, do any of the NE metros consider candidates from nearby NE metros as "local candidates?" For example, would relocation to Philadelphia also allow me to have a realistic chance when applying for NY metro jobs too?

Thank you for any opinions!

[Ghengis]

I didn't read your criteria, but it seems you put a lot of thought in it

I'm just going to guess Philadelphia

[grapico]

You are analyzing this way more than necessary. All those cities are good, and getting the higher paying job is often more about luck than talent at least if it is your first job. Chicago and Philly are obviously the cheaper cities but I think Boston, DC, NYC have better job markets.

[ThinkingGeneral]

Originally Posted by grapico

You are analyzing this way more than necessary.

Well I enjoy analysis, so I naturally take it to the extreme when I do it lol. The spreadsheet I made in that image was also partly due to what I see happen a lot on this forum (or any other): extreme proclamations that if taken in their entirety, are false, even if some or most of it is true. I am sure a lot of times the generalizations are true to an extent, but I sometimes see, for example, people saying they are 100% positive that A city is WAY more expensive than B city, when all objective data says A city is either only somewhat more expensive, or according to one or two sources actually less expensive. In some cases I am sure the methodology or interpretation is flawed and the person is actually making a true statement, but I was just throwing some objective data out there to try to rein in the extreme exaggerations and perhaps encourage some discussion.

I completely agree about the luck over talent thing. But back on the topic, it sounds like you feel I have pretty much an equal chance of success and overall match among those cities, just with particular advantages/disadvantages with each that balance out. Thanks for the opinion.