Austin Makes 'Best Cities For Young Professionals' Forbes List

AUSTIN, TX — As newly minted college graduates take to the world, they will no doubt seek the best cities for young professionals in which to make their marks. In Austin, grads might consider staying just where they are as the city ranks in the top 15 on a list compiled by Forbes magazine.

The magazine considered a variety of metrics in achieving its definitive list of best cities for young professionals. Austin shows up at the 15th slot, not too shabby but no Salt Lake City, Utah, which came out on top with the only disadvantage being that you'd have to live in Utah (rim shot, please). The second spot went to Boise City, Idaho, where we spent a year one night (thank you! We're here 'til midnight!).

In all seriousness, though, such lists tend to raise the civic-pride-based dander and can be seen as subjective compilations. But Forbes is a rather respected publication that analyzed each city through the use of six major metrics, including starting salaries, housing affordability, employment rates, job growth and projections, networking opportunities and social outlook.

The methodology was used to rank each of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. Read more here on the metrics Forbes used to come up with the list.

And so, without further ado, the top 25 cities for young professionals in 2017 are:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area
2. Boise City, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area
3. San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, California Metropolitan Statistical Area
4. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area
5. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area
6. Raleigh, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area
7. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area
8. Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area
9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California Metropolitan Statistical Area
10. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area
11. Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, California Metropolitan Statistical Area
12. Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area
13. Silver Spring-Frederick, Rockville, Maryland Metropolitan Statistical Area
14. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area
15. Austin-Round Rock, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area
16. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California Metropolitan Statistical Area
17. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area
18. San Diego-Carlsbad, California Metropolitan Statistical Area
19. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area
20. Boston, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area
21. St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area
22. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area
23. Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area
24. Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska-Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area
25. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota-Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area

>>>Click here to see more statistics on the cities that make the list, including median income, unemployment rate and more.