Two Arizona communities are among the nation’s top 25 cities for new college graduates, according to a new study.
The report by SmartAsset, which analyzed the largest 106 U.S. cities, put Tucson at No. 19 and Phoenix at No. 25.
SmartAsset, a financial technology company based in New York, evaluated the cities on 10 metrics that fell into three categories — jobs, affordability and fun, or lifestyle. Those were combined into a final ranking index.
Phoenix had one of the highest job scores among the top 35 cities ranked. It came in at No. 9 in that category, which took into consideration the unemployment rate for college graduates along with the overall January unemployment rate, job openings for college grads listed on Indeed.com and median earnings for college grads.
Also among the top 35, Phoenix fell into the lower-middle of the pack when it came to affordability and in the bottom third for fun (lifestyle). The first considered cost of living and median monthly rent, while the second considered the concentration of dining and entertainment establishments and average Yelp scores for bars and restaurants, as well as the percentage of the population between 20 and 29.
Tucson ranked low among the top 35 for jobs, but it was No. 5 for affordability and No. 20 for fun.
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