These 3 IL Cities Ranked Among Best For Gen Z Grads

Chicago, Springfield and Champaign were recently ranked among the nation’s top cities for new college graduates.

Redfin and Glassdoor partnered to rank the best big, medium and small U.S. metro areas for graduates based on 13 indicators across career opportunity, housing affordability and urban quality of life.

The best three big cities were Washington, Omaha and Boston, respectively. New Orleans, Palm Bay and Wichita took the top spots in the mid-size category, while Springfield, Santa Fe and Panama City were ranked the best small cities.

In addition to top-ranked Springfield, Champaign came in sixth on the small cities list, while Chicago was fifth among the big cities.

Redfin listed the average early career earnings and typical starter home price for each ranked city. The numbers for the Illinois cities are:

• Chicago — $72,786 earnings, $202,000 home price;
• Springfield — $59,925 earnings, $128,000 home price;
• Champaign — $57,356 earnings, $157,000 home price.

Read more about the ranking from Redfin.