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Seattle has the most college educated people of a major city.
Philly doesn't have a lot of young professionals at all... it's actually one of the least educated major cities. It has a lot of college students, but most move out of the city after graduation. Don't assume there's a correlation between students and young professionals. Ask the outgoing class at Penn every year and most will tell you they're going to jobs in New York, DC, or even out of the country. They're not sticking around Philadelphia.
For example Tucson, Arizona is considered a College Town. But many people move out from there after college.
What places do people usually flock to as young proffesionals? For example I always thought there wouldn't be much of an "Active/Young" crowd in Chicago because of the brutal winter 5 months of the year. Because its so cold, there is less of a social scene, or physical activity. Due to the artic weather.
I noticed a lot of youth in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Houston. Warmer Cities.
(Every city has young people, I understand) I'm talking about the bigger/prominent influx.
In the South would be: Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh. I would put the DC area as well, but it's like a tossup between the South or Mid-Atlantic.
its near NYC and all the young people who work live there and its a big hang out area.. pretty pricey though. But that tells you that its for young professionals.
Seattle has the most college educated people of a major city.
Philly doesn't have a lot of young professionals at all... it's actually one of the least educated major cities. It has a lot of college students, but most move out of the city after graduation. Don't assume there's a correlation between students and young professionals. Ask the outgoing class at Penn every year and most will tell you they're going to jobs in New York, DC, or even out of the country. They're not sticking around Philadelphia.
One also shouldn't assume that there is a correlation between broad-brushed statistics on educational attainment and opportunity for young professionals, as well. You're correct -- Philadelphia OVERALL is below average in educational attainment, but this overlooks a broad swath of Center City that is home to one of the highest concentrations of young professionals in the country behind Chicago. 30% of its 88,000 downtown residents are between the ages of 25 -34, and 79% of those possess a college degree.
Combine that with the fact that many increasingly gentrified neighborhoods and suburbs are home to large concentrations of young professionals -- many of which having attended one of the 92 area schools -- such as Conshohocken, King of Prussia, Manayunk, etc., and your comments come off as pretty disingenuous.
Lastly, one figure that is undercounted is the measure of college graduates moving to other areas after graduation is those who come back:
"Philadelphia has long been successful in retaining regional
residents who attend college or university in the city. But the
number of recent college graduates who lived elsewhere after
graduation for a period of time and have come back grew significantly
between 2003 and 2006, from 26% to 39% of
respondents. The largest number (10%) had lived in New
York City; 4% were returning from Boston, 4% from San
Francisco and 4% from various places overseas. Center City
is also acting as magnet in the region: 62% of respondents
who are living in Center City are not native to the area."
Thus, it's important to not take some statistics at face value, especially for large cities like Philadelphia that must be dissected.
Last edited by Duderino; 12-27-2008 at 05:00 PM..
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