Raleigh-Durham Makes Post-Recession List For Young Adults
Raleigh-Durham is among the top 10 American cities that will be “post-recession meccas for the young, according to the results of a panel of experts recruited by The Wall Street Journal and reported in today’s edition.
While the six experts found that northeastern and west coast cities are “ascendant, eclipsing former Sunbelt favorites such as Atlanta,” the Triangle took eighth place on the list of locales predicted to be the “hottest, hippest destinations for highly mobile, educated workers in their 20s.” The panel also found that Charlotte, a banking center, had lost some of its luster due to the financial crisis.
Journal “Work & Family” columnist Sue Shellenarger wrote that where adults ages 18 to 29 live helps determine the future of regions and that cities with a large percentage of these young adults “gain a cultural allure and a labor-market edge.”
While the Wall Street Journal admitted that naming the next wave of hip towns for young adults is “far from an exact science,” it sought the help of six of the nation’s experts to define the emerging youth magnet cities. The panelists include:
Steven Cochrane, managing director of Moody’s Economy.com;
Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Milken Institute;
Richard Florida, author of “Who’s Your City” and “The Rise of the Creative Class,” and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management;
Rachel Franklin, senior lecturer for public policy at the University of Maryland and former deputy director of the Association of American Geographers and author of a 2003 Census Bureau report on migration patterns among young, educated workers;
William Frey, demographer and senior fellow at the Metropolitan Policy program of the Brookings Institution and research profession in population studies at the University of Michigan; and
David Plan, professor of geography and regional development at the University of Arizona at Tucson, a senior editor of the Journal of Regional Science and researcher of age-related factors in migration.
The list of the predicted post-recession boomtowns where the young and ambitious are likely to flock is:
Washington, D.C.
(tie) Seattle
New York City
Portland, Ore.
Austin, Texas
San Jose, Calif.
Denver
Raleigh-Durham
Dallas
Chicago
(tie) Boston
Prepared by:
Jayne Kirkpatrick
Director
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Jayne Kirkpatrick
Director
Public Affairs Department
222 West Hargett Street
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-996-3100
