{"id":106355,"date":"2025-10-07T07:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T07:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/106355\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T07:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T07:08:15","slug":"recent-college-grads-are-flocking-to-these-10-u-s-cities-says-new-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/106355\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent college grads are flocking to these 10 U.S. cities, says new report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite economic uncertainty, recent college graduates are still flocking to major cities, according to private equity company Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2025 Talent Hubs report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top three cities attracting new grads in 2025 are New York City, San Francisco-Bay Area, and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

According to John Gates, CEO of Markets at JLL Americas, a “relatively high percentage of college graduates” move to urban areas each year, and that “consistent pattern” has continued in 2025.<\/p>\n

From the Class of 2025, <\/strong>1.47 million graduates entered office-centric roles this year, according to the report. Of those graduates, 36% relocated to a different metro area, and 23% relocated to a different state.<\/p>\n

Job opportunities are a major factor driving new grads to move after college, Gates says. Amid a faltering labor market<\/a>, the employment situation for new grads has been “very up and down.”<\/p>\n

All of the cities on the list have robust local economies and a high density of corporations, Gates says, which creates a steady stream of new jobs.<\/p>\n

JLL’s 2025 list of talent hubs has changed little since last year<\/a>, except for the addition of Dallas-Fort Worth, which edged out Houston to land in the top 10.<\/p>\n

Each city’s rank is based on overall size and on the university caliber of graduates taking jobs in those markets.<\/p>\n

These are the top 10 cities for new grads, including the share of 2025 grads who are moving there, the year-over-year increase in 2024 grads, and the top industries in each city.<\/p>\n

1. New York City<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 10.9%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 38%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Finance, Accounting and Consulting, Technology<\/p>\n

2. San Francisco-Bay Area<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 5.4%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 31%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Technology, Accounting and Consulting, Automotive<\/p>\n

3. Los Angeles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 6.0%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 19%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Aerospace and Defense, Technology, Media and Entertainment, Accounting and Consulting<\/p>\n

4. Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 4.7%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 11%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Finance, Accounting and Consulting, Technology<\/p>\n

5. Chicago<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 4.9%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 10%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Accounting and Consulting, Banking and Finance, Technology<\/p>\n

6. Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 3.8%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 47%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Accounting and Consulting, Government, Aerospace and Defense<\/p>\n

7. Atlanta<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 3.4%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 3%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Technology, Accounting and Consulting, Finance<\/p>\n

8. Philadelphia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 2.8%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 1%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Finance, Accounting and Consulting, Life Science<\/p>\n

9. Dallas-Fort Worth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 3.1%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 26%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Finance, Accounting and Consulting, Technology<\/p>\n

10. Seattle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share of 2025 grads: 2.4%<\/p>\n

Year-over-year increase in 2024 grads: 14%<\/p>\n

Top industries: Technology, Aerospace and Defense<\/p>\n

It’s no surprise to Gates that New York City tops the list: the city is “perhaps one of the most competitive business communities and economies in the world,” which makes it a “very attractive” place for young graduates to live.<\/p>\n

West Coast hubs like Los Angeles and San Francisco are similarly popular among new grads: Northern California is widely considered the “epicenter of innovation and technology,” Gates says, and “young people with STEM degrees of any kind are going to flock there.”<\/p>\n

According to Gates, proximity to top schools is a major factor attracting grads to these cities.<\/p>\n

Cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia benefit from having “super high-quality universities” in their metro areas, he says, and Los Angeles draws large numbers of graduates from California’s strong state university system.<\/p>\n

Cost of living can be another major consideration: Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle are popular options for cost-conscious grads due to their relative affordability compared to coastal hubs, Gates says.<\/p>\n

Dallas-Fort Worth, the newest addition to the list, has experienced a “surge in job growth” due to an uptick in corporate relocation to the area, Gates says.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, “graduates go where the jobs are,” Gates says, and cities with thriving employment markets will consistently attract top talent.<\/p>\n

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Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter<\/a> to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn<\/a> to connect with experts and peers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite economic uncertainty, recent college graduates are still flocking to major cities, according to private equity company Jones…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[3764,79,18,19,17,227,3765,11390,3763,3769],"class_list":{"0":"post-106355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-articles","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-jobs","14":"tag-make-it","15":"tag-make-it-work","16":"tag-makeit","17":"tag-sourcetagnamecnbc-us-source"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}