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The way to keep people is to have high paying jobs. Period. I have a number of employees that are young (20's and 30's) USC grads from elsewhere and they stayed in Columbia after graduation, so obviously those who can find good jobs, stay.
The way to keep people is to have high paying jobs. Period. I have a number of employees that are young (20's and 30's) USC grads from elsewhere and they stayed in Columbia after graduation, so obviously those who can find good jobs, stay.
In SC, Charleston is the easiest city to sell primarily due to the beach. Columbia has the hard sell of keeping students who have formed an impression that Columbia was their college town but wants to graduate to a larger city. It is not a bad thing, it is just that you don't always want to start a career in the town where you studied....there are exceptions like NYU, Emory etc but they are small exceptions.
Absolutely, and the only similarly-sized city I can think of that's an exception to this rule is Madison, WI which is also the capital of its state and home to its state's flagship university. Like Charleston, it also has the benefit of geography with a scenic location on an isthmus and beaches along its lakes. But it must be performing very well in the jobs department because as waccamatt said, that's the number one factor.
The way to keep people is to have high paying jobs. Period. I have a number of employees that are young (20's and 30's) USC grads from elsewhere and they stayed in Columbia after graduation, so obviously those who can find good jobs, stay.
This is true.........in most cases, folks will move as life events dictate. However, there are a few cities that are magnets for the younger crowd. Many of the people hired in our offices out of college move to Charlotte and then look for a job. You see this in a few cities.
I actually think Columbia is a great city for the 25-40 crowd. Currently, that demo makes up over 21% of Columbia's population
I for one know many people my age (22-25) that have moved away from Columbia and when they come back remark at how much it has changed for the better. I moved away to the upstate for college for 4 years and came back to what felt like a new hometown. I now spend most of my free time downtown around main street and in the vista. Better transit downtown and more housing for young professionals would make Columbia the perfect place for me to live. I know those points have already been made, but those two things would be the main things I would want to see.
I for one know many people my age (22-25) that have moved away from Columbia and when they come back remark at how much it has changed for the better. I moved away to the upstate for college for 4 years and came back to what felt like a new hometown. I now spend most of my free time downtown around main street and in the vista. Better transit downtown and more housing for young professionals would make Columbia the perfect place for me to live. I know those points have already been made, but those two things would be the main things I would want to see.
I am cautiously optimistic that the transit penny tax will do a lot for bus service downtown. I agree, this would really take Columbia to the next level in terms of urbanism and quality of life.
ColaClemsonFan11, if you were into the arts you could move back to Columbia and get involved in this effort being undertaken by eight young professional groups in Richland and Lexington counties, downtown.
ColaClemsonFan11, if you were into the arts you could move back to Columbia and get involved in this effort being undertaken by eight young professional groups in Richland and Lexington counties, downtown.
That does sound like a great event, I was big into the young professional groups when I was there and did enjoy it and actually did work with the arts in some capacity but it just wasn't my main interest.
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