Look no further for the most affordable cities to live in post-graduation
A beautiful summer in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo By: Ann Shelley
By Ann Shelley// Opinion Editor
When you are first looking at colleges, everyone is checking out every single detail about the school. You want to find a place that has the perfect temperature/weather or the best program for whatever you want to study. You spend time traveling and visiting various schools, sometimes even all over the United States. Even if you have one top choice that is the only school you want to go to, you still had to do research – you should have a similar mindset when picking a place to live after college. However, so many cities and towns in the United States are perfect for graduates to start life in the “real world.”
Sometimes instead of finding “that job” after college, graduating seniors look at places that are the most affordable. This way they are able to establish themselves and eventually find work somewhere they love to live. Below are some of the best places for graduating seniors to consider when choosing where to live post-graduation:
1.The midwest sometimes is best. Cleveland, OH is one of the most affordable cities. Fortune 500 companies are headquartered there such as KeyCorp, Sherwin-Williams, J.M. Smucker and Progressive. It is slowly becoming a very popular and fun place to live for younger adults.
2.The southern charm continues in Orlando, Florida. Orlando is the best city for recent college graduates. There are always plenty of tourists in this city which is good for the hospitality industry – especially if you are interested in this professionally. Fortune 1,000 companies are headquartered in Orlando like the Tupperware Brands and Darden Restaurants. Disney theme parks are located there, as well as the Hilton Grand Vacations. Why not live in a place where Disney, the beach, great food, better shopping and other adventure parks are only a couple minutes away from you?
3.Wisconsin is not all cheese and the Green Bay Packers. Milwaukee is right now SmartAsset’s 23rd best city for new graduates and scored high on the SmartAsset’s rankings for affordability. Milwaukee, WI also scored high on life outside of work. Fortune 1,000 companies are headquartered there like Johnson Controls, Northwestern Mutual, Manpower Group, Harley-Davidson, WEC Energy Group and Joy Global. The Milwaukee Art Museum is also a piece of art itself with the outside resembling a boat.
5.Yes, there is more to Denver than just mountains. Denver is SmartAsset’s 19th best city for new graduates. There is high job availability and a lot of activities to do for life outside of work. There are many Fortune 1,000 companies headquartered in Denver like DaVita HealthCare Partners, Molson Coors Brewing, Chipotle Mexican Grill, QEP Resources and many others. The mountains only being 45 minutes away is exciting for anyone who loves the outdoors and hiking with endless amounts of beautiful nature views.
6. Indiana is not all just cornfields and farm land. Indianapolis, IN is SmartAsset’s 14th best city for new graduates. The city scored very high on affordability rankings and received a high score for job availability as well as life outside of work. Fortune 1,000 companies that are there include Anthem, Eli Lilly, Simon Property and hhgregg. Indiana has harsh winters and hot summers but the bustling of the city makes every season better. There are so many lakes close by to provide the perfect getaway on those hot weekends.
7.Dallas-Fort Worth really does prove everything is better and bigger in Texas. The airport located there is one of the largest in the United States. Dallas is the 13th best city for college graduates on SmartAsset’s ranking. The city also scored high on job availability and affordability. A lot of universities like TCU are located in that area. Also, Fortune 1,000 companies headquartered in Dallas are so diverse – AT&T, Energy Transfer Equity, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, Dean Foods, Trinity Industries, Energy Future Holdings, HollyFrontier and Neiman Marcus are all headquartered in Dallas.
8. Nashville is not all country music and cowboy boots. It is also the 12th best city for new college graduates and scored high on rankings for life outside of work due to the country singers and lovers of the genre. Nashville is known as “the music city” with a lot of job availability and affordability. Fortune 1,000 companies such as HCA Holdings and Genesco are headquartered there. Nashville is also home to various theme parks and great eateries.
9. Seattle is not all rain and Starbucks. It is the seventh best city for new graduates and scored very high on job availability. The unemployment rate is equal to the national average. However, the beauty of the pacific ocean will make you fall in love. It is also home to major tech and consumer companies like Amazon, Starbucks and Nordstrom – what more do you need?